Under the effect of the night
by Liger Khan
Summary: Fanfic dedicated to my best friend. Stanley and Peggy are trying to bond their relationship as friends, but it ends up as another thing. Bad summary, story better. Please review!
1. Chapter 1

The Mask: The Animated Series

Under the effect of the night

It's a normal, cloudy night with the presence of methane emissions. Those really know how to pick up the colours: greens and blues, sometimes pink and yellow. The atmosphere is so amazing.

Stanley Ipkiss, 32, and Peggy Brandt, 26, two friends who prefer to stay like that, are walking in Edge City's park.

Judging by how he's dressed, a simple, light-blue coloured T-shirt, dark blue pants, and brown shoes, one can tell the brown-haired male is not on his working hours. He's just being cool.

Both friends are laughing thanks to a few anecdotes and embarrassing moments in their youth.

"Seriously?" the red-haired reporter asked "You did that in High School?"

"Yeah." He laughed "And I got myself grounded for a year. That was tough." He facepalmed. 'After all that time, I learned my lesson." He continued "Never hear Charlie again."

Peggy snickers.

"If I happen to do the same…" she didn't finish because she started to laugh "Oh, Stanley! I still can't believe you did that!"

"Hey, I was young and naïve." He defended himself

"And you're still naïve." She said "I won't laugh about that again... but, if I was in you generation, I'd have so published that on the school's newspaper".

Instead of making her stop, he laughs.

"If that happened, I'd have ended grounded for two years or more".

"Now I think, it's no longer funny. But it doesn't remove the level of stupidity of what you did".

"Well, now I see my sister was right. I'll laugh at that sooner or later." He said. "What about you?"

Suddenly, a few raindrops start to fall.

"Great." He mumbled under his breathe

"We should go to my apartment. It's not so far from here." She suggested

"I think I'll go to mine before it starts to rain heavy." He replied

Then, the rain starts to rain heavily.

"You said your apartment isn't far from here, right?" he asked

The two friends start to run a few streets until they finally arrive and go straight to Peggy's apartment.

"I hope it stops raining soon." Stanley said "I don't know how Milo is doing". He said as he sat on the bed "He might be wondering where am I".

"He'll be fine, Stan." She said, now sitting aside him. "Milo's a smart dog. He knows you sometimes disappear just because."

"Just when I'm the Mask"

"The point is, he knows how to survive. Sure he will chew your slippers or the sofa because he's worried. Believe me, he will be fine. When it stops raining you'll see."

Then a thunder strikes.

"I think it won't stop raining sooner."

"Give it an hour or so. We can't control the weather."

"But the Mask can."

"Stanley, stop thinking about the Mask. You need to make up your mind. You are already all you ever need to be. Try not to focus on him."

"I can't"

"Look, let's talk about something that will keep you distracted, okay?"

He nods.

"Good. Well… what if we talk about… I don't know…" she had no idea what she was saying. "… our ideal soul-mate?"

Stanley is perplexed about the topic.

"I-I don't want to talk about that." He said

"Well, I do." She said

"Okay, then begin."

"Well… uh…" she really didn't know how to start. In fact she didn't know what to say. "…pass?"

Stanley snickers.

"Oh, Peg, seriously?" he laughs "You want to talk about something you want, yet you have no idea how to start? That's so funny!"

Because of this, she starts to laugh.

"Do you know how hard it is to find a decent man in this town?" she asked "Most of them think monogamy is some kind of wood."

"I think they might have misheard it as 'mahogany'." He said

She nodded.

"From all the males I've met, you are the only one who doesn't want to speed the relationship to a higher level immediately."

"I think it's because they just see women as a toy and then they forget about it once they use it." he said "You know I'm not that kind of man. If I ever get the chance of having a girlfriend again… I'll treat her like she deserves, not like some old thing. If she needs someone during hard times, I'll be that someone. If she needs a place to stay, my apartment is her apartment. If she's about to be shot, I'll take the bullet just to let her safe. If she gets in a problem, I'll even make the impossible to help her to resolve it. And I'll make all that without using the Mask. It'll just be me."

Peggy is amazed by his speech. She approaches him a little bit.

"There are hundreds of women out there who are looking for a man just like you." She said "Me included." she muttered this

"Really?" he asked, apparently he heard the last thing she said

"Really." She nodded.

He lowers his head and brushes his mouth against hers. She presses her lips to his, her hand lightly pressing on his cheek. Because of the lack of balance of their position, Stanley and Peggy fall to the bed.

They stretch across it and begin to kiss again, with the female being on top. By the time Stanley notes it, they were already French kissing. Their tongues fighting, the exchange of saliva, a strange sensation of an odd heat. He feels like he is going to explode inside!

Both male and female pause a bit.

The pillow is so soft and comfy. Stanley closes his eyes and smiles a bit. With Peggy sitting in his crotch, the sound of clothes being removed from a body, and the fact there was no air conditioner or fan turned on, the 32-year-old male starts to feel his body temperature is increasing.

"Don't you like them?" Peggy asked him.

"I...uh...?" he said, being affected by his own body heat. He opens his eyes and turns his head to Peggy again, and sees she's not wearing her jacket and blouse. She is (almost) exposing her breasts, offering them to him. He doesn't know how to react or respond. "...Of course I do." he spluttered the fourth thing he thought.

Stanley gulps and stares to her bra until he gets bold enough to (try to) unhook it. Man! He has never done that before. After fighting and losing against it, at the same time she giggles and shakes her head, he decides to slide it off her.

He is now staring at her bare breasts.

"Its okay, Stanley". She said. "Go ahead."

Stanley starts to touch them. Peggy was able to tell this is his first time touching a woman like that. She gasps as he starts to kiss them. He starts to feel goose bumps forming in her skin. Taking it as a signal for the next step, the male started to suck her nipples. The female flinches a bit and feels a sensation she has never felt before.

A moment later, Peggy removes Stanley's clothes and sees there is a bulge in his pale, pink boxers. He is getting nervous at the same time his member is getting harder and bigger each second. She smirks at this, and takes the liberty to remove his underwear, to reveal his thick, hard, and firm penis.

Stanley gasps at this. The last time he recalls his manhood being like that was when he fantasized about Tina. And that was like months ago. Yes, he masturbated once, thinking on her, using a condom he took from Charlie's drawer's desk, at the bank's employee restroom. He loved it and, because he heard the voice of his boss approaching, and was scared and nervous about what he did, instead of throwing it to the toilet to get rid of the 'evidence', he kept it in one of his pockets.

Now, he is being turned on by Peggy Brandt at the same time she's massaging his manhood. A moment later, the female starts to kiss the shaft of his member, looking at him quickly and then took it in her mouth. Tasting the precum, feeling the hotness and hardness, caressing his balls, she could feel him breathing heavily again. Stanley starts to spurt his hot, "man-gravy" deep in her mouth and down her throat. She removes his penis off her mouth, and he comes once again, shooting a small load at her face.

"Are you okay?" he asked

"Yes." She nodded at the same time she was cleaning her face with one of her hands and tasting some of his semen.

"I think it's my turn" he said.

Stanley took now the 'dominant' paper and removed Peggy's pants and panties. At least he didn't have trouble on removing those. It was better than removing a "bra secured with a big (invisible) Rubik cube".

Peggy loves this attention. Her hand drifts to her womanhood, stroking it gently. Stanley, spotting this, moves her hand away and replaces it with his own. He starts to rub her as Peggy starts to moan. She grips the back of his head and pulls him a bit closer. Oh it felt so good; his hands rubbing her thighs, his fingers digging deep into her flesh. Her legs were wide open by now. He suddenly moves quickly between them, kissing down her body and straight onto her open pussy. The sensations cursing through her body were something she had never experienced before.

Stanley's tongue is darting in and out at the same time Peggy feels she is rapidly losing control. As his tongue is doing his work, she moves her hips in circles against his face. She moans, paralyzed by pleasure. He rubs her clit with another finger and slides it to the opening of her hole. Flicking his tongue faster and faster over her clit, Peggy feels a strange tensing in her cunt. The male plays his finger around her hole, licking her juices up and down. She comes suddenly and calls out his name over and over again as she bathes his face in the release of her sweet juices.

The male brings his mouth to hers and she tastes herself on his lips. Not the best flavour in the world. Stanley's juices taste better than hers.

"I want you now!" Peggy demanded

He decides to obey her and guides his throbbing member into her now lubricated opening. Stanley begins to push into her, slowly. Once he is half way in, he waits for her approval. He looks at her once again and notes she's sort of nervous and scared. Who wouldn't be like that? He could say it was the first time for both of them.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

She nods nervously and he slams all his meat into her.

"GAAAH!" she screamed

"What happened?" he asked "Are you okay?"

"Yes... it's just..." she replied. "... you're big".

"Listen, we can do this another day. I don't want to hurt you." he said as he pulled out

"No, Stanley. I want you now. I'll be ok."

"Are you sure?"

"I need it Stanley! I want to feel you deep in me!" she demanded again

He inserted his thick, 9.5" member again, and, like before, Peggy screamed.

"Just... continue." She said to him as a couple of tears were leaving her face.

Stanley begins to thrust gently. He later sees there's blood coming out her entrance. He starts to wonder if he did something wrong. Suddenly, he recalls Charlie told him female virgins always feel pain and bleed. He doesn't remember the reason, because he told him to shut up. And now he asks himself why he was remembering this.

The shy man decides to do what his instinct was telling him to do: satisfy her.

After a while, her bleeding stops, her pain transforms into pleasure, and starts to moan in delight as he pushes in and out. The male could feel himself getting harder and harder each second.

The feeling is pretty amazing. She had taken all 9.5" of him! Stanley begins to build a rhythm gradually taking longer strokes until he has sheathing and unsheathing his full member on each stroke.

"Continue, Stanley. Continue" she said as she wrapped her legs around his waist.

The male speeds up his rhythm. By this time, the heat he felt was so intense he started to sweat a lot. The odour expelled from both bodies was acting as a pheromone, forcing him to pleasure her even more. She wraps her arms around his back and starts to dig her nails into his back. A moment later, Peggy's nails run down his back, leaving reddened trails on his body. He lowers his head and moves his mouth across her neck and shoulders. She moans one more time, and the sound turns him on even more.

Suddenly, she slides away from him and changes her position, standing in all fours. Stanley grabs her by the hips and shoves his member deep inside her. She gives in and they move together. His eyes roll back and she starts to moan deeply. He begins to move frantically with deep, short, hard strokes. Grunting with determination, he thrusts his dick harder and deeper. The waves of pleasure begin to engulf both of them.

"Unh, Stanley! Stanley!" She cried

He continues doggy-styling her and leans forward to be a 'real dog'. His hands locate her breasts and start to play with them. She gasps at this at the same time she felt Stanley licking her neck. A lot of pleasure mixed with heat and passion was the only thing she was able to feel.

The male couldn't believe it. Peggy is pleading for more. She loves it. Stanley begins to deep-stroke her. Her moans turn to grunts as she races toward an orgasm.

"Fuck me deeper, Stanley! Deeper!" she said.

His strokes get short and hard.

"Yes! Yes! Yes!" was all she could say

Her orgasm was gripping the male's penis.

Moments later, she starts to feel his warm semen. His dick got harder and his strokes were getting even deeper than before. Stanley yelled at the same time another wave of orgasms enveloped him.

"Don't stop! Not yet!" Peggy begged, climaxing with his grunts. "Hard, Stanley! I need it hard!" she said frantically.

He continues slamming her again and again. His warm cum was now dripping down her legs. The female screams as the orgasm takes over. She keeps repeating "Continue! Continue! Deeper! Deeper!" as more waves hit her. He slows down, pulls out to let Peggy to take control, and lies on his back. He was getting tired after all.

Peggy rides his penis again and moves back and forth. Minutes later, Stanley leans forward to kiss her neck and she wraps her arms around him, bringing the sweat of both bodies together. Both start to kiss. This time was less forceful and more sensual. His hands move to her back as hers move to his shoulders. He could feel himself ejaculating inside her and the scent of the juices already filling her.

They break their kiss and she removes herself from his member. They are now in the 69 position.

Peggy takes his cock and starts to kiss it, from the base to the head, and then vice versa. She gives small bites to his tool and starts to play with his testicles. By this time, Stanley's face was beet-red. He is licking her entrance up and down.

She jerks him off, trying to get more of the male's juices. All he could think of was how good she was at this. Suddenly, his dick erupts in her mouth. She swallows a great part of his load and then pulls his cock from her mouth and receives the remaining sweet, chalky substance on her face. The sensation of his cum causes her to cum right after him.

After Stanley stops shooting his male-exclusive substance, Peggy put his dick back in her mouth and licks it clean.

A moment later, Stanley's penis starts to get flaccid. The female reporter then lies behind the male bank clerk. They were already panting, breathing heavily, and sweating.

Stanley Ipkiss and Peggy Brandt lost their virginity to each other.

He kisses her and moves Peggy a little more closely to him. For some reason, probably because of satisfaction, he felt very protective of her. She looks up to him and sees he's smiling at the same time he covers a great part of both with one of the bed sheets.

"That was amazing." She said at the same time she rubbed Stanley's chest with her head

"Indeed... it was." He said. "I think we should do this often. We needed it, anyways." He said as he started to pet her head

"Don't worry, Stanley. We can do this often." She said as she kissed his cheek.

Stanley starts to rub her shoulder and then he kissed her forehead.

"Good night, Peg." He said

"Good night, Stan." She replied

And both fall asleep in each other's arms.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxx

So there it is.

I tried to make a few references to the film. This is a "thank you" gift for one of my friends. I know my friend (won't reveal the gender) is a fan of this series and one of the few fans of the StanleyxPeggy shipping. I also dedicate this to all the fans of this couple! I don't care if you say "Dude, WTF? Are you crazy? She sold him to Dorian and his boys!" This is my stuff and get over it.

My friend has told me all its theories: (S)he thinks Stanley's a virgin, Tina dumped him because he was not the man she thought he was and preferred to stay as friends (ooh! Friendzoned!). And the cartoon has Peggy as the main female character. My friend also said Stanley and Peggy were too busy friendzoning each other. Ha ha ha! Let's face it, they should have worked as a couple, but writers were giving us no-nos.

I'm planning to do more chapters for this fanfic, I don't know. That depends on how many reviews I get.

And if I f-ed up your childhood then I'm sorry. That was not my intention.

Please review! I want to know what you think!

And if I had grammar mistakes, then I'm sorry!


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter II: Again in the shower

Morning finally comes. The sun is freaking bright, which appears to be no surprise for everyone due to being around 9:30 a.m. The streets are dry, decorated with bunches of green and yellow leafs, not to mention there are also a few, thin tree branches, courtesy of the rain storm last night.

Inside Peggy's apartment, the two friends are sleeping, in a spoon position, still bare naked.

_*Beep! Beep! Beep!*_

Stanley slowly opens his eyes and turns off the alarm. Everything seems fuzzy, but soon came to clear view. Momentarily, he gains enough consciousness and remembers what he did last night. He doesn't know how to feel. He gives a small laugh and shakes his head.

Wanting to feel clean, he decides he'll take a bath and dress with the clothes he used last night. He moves carefully, trying not to wake Peggy up.

He gets the temperature to the perfect warm level and just stays under the pouring water for a few minutes, trying to relax and relieve his mind.

Stanley closes his eyes and raises his head. He opens his mouth to catch the rain. The drops are dancing in his lips, moving through his body, until they meet the floor, disappearing in the water that was now cleaning his feet. After five and a half minutes, he starts to feel-

"Do you mind if we shower together?" a familiar female voice asks him

"Uh?" he snaps from his thoughts at the same time he covers his male exclusive parts with one of his hands and turns his head to see the reporter, who is using a towel to cover her. "Uhm… no, come on." He said.

Apparently, she was awaken by the sound of the water.

Peggy enters, removes her towel, and Stanley tries not to look her. Let's face it; the logic, his logic is f'd up. He already saw her without her clothes as she saw him and he didn't felt ashamed or repelled and now he's trying not to look at her because he thinks she'll think he's a pervert in the deep inside. He will probably look her upper back and that's all.

_First I sleep with her, and now we are going to shower together. What's next?_ The male thought.

"Stanley?" she asked

"Huh? What?" he replied, again snapping from his thoughts.

"Want to wash my back?" she asked

"Sure." He replied

He searches for the sponge and pours out liquid soap into it, and then he begins to work. He scrubs up and down every inch of her back, swabbing off the occasional filth.

"That feels nice" she said

"Thanks." He said

"What happened last night stays here, right?" she wondered

"Of course, of course." He replied. "Nobody will find out. It's a promise."

"So… did you like it?"

"Like what?"

"Our 'activity' last night."

"The walk at the park? I loved it. Especially when we made fun of the stupidities we did when we were young. "

"I meant the other one."

"The sex, right?"

Peggy giggles at it. It's so strange to hear Stanley saying that word.

"Yes. That." She said

"Hum… well... I-I…" he didn't know how to respond. "I guess so."

"Did you know," she said. "…every time you sleep with someone, both can see each other for what they really are?"

"What?"

"I'm not really sure if that's a rumour. But, I think I was able to perceive you're afraid of what people will think if they see who you are in the deep inside. What did you perceive?"

"I… I…" he didn't know what so say. "I think I saw you as a wonderful person."

"Stanley."

"Okay, you got me. I perceived nothing. I'm sorry."

"It doesn't matter. I know you know I'm not a bad person after all."

Peggy turns to hug him and he returns it. Suddenly, he feels one of her hands is approaching his lower back.

"You want there to be a next time?" Stanley asked

"And probably a time after that." She snickers. "Don't you?"

Stanley looks a bit confused and unsure.

"No. I mean, yes. I mean… I didn't freak you out last night, did I?"

"Why would you think that? Stanley, there's nothing you could ever do that would scare me away. Or at least so far."

He starts to feel weird again. His body heat is increasing. He leans forward to her neck and starts to kiss her. It appears his balls have taken over his mind.

The way she feels his lips kissing her neck made her entire face boil with pleasure at the same time she moans.

Peggy drops to her knees and takes his tool all the way into her mouth, playing with his teabag as she swirls her tongue around the tip. She pulls his hips closer to her as she continues serving his hard penis. She sucks and strokes his dick until he releases his hot, sweet semen down her throat. The reporter removes his member out of her mouth and positions it between her breasts. Suddenly, she squeezes them and Stanley starts to move his erect flesh up and down. He starts to moan and appears to love the feeling of his tool being surrounded by soft boobies that massage every centimetre of it. She starts to lick the tip of his penis, something that turns the male even more, making him to release a few drops of white load.

After a while, Stanley gets on his knees and starts to suck her tits as he rubs and fingers her clit with one of his hands. She continues moaning for a couple of minutes. Later, he lowers himself and starts to devour her sweet entrance with his tongue, darting in and out, at the same time her tights start to quiver.

She stands up and she bucks her hips into his face, humping his tongue until she says his name a few times as she came.

After he finishes lapping her juices, he stands up and then lifts her up into the air while her legs automatically wrap around his hips. He starts to feel her fingers on his back as he tries to hold her, but the water makes it so hard she starts scraping and scratching with her nails. He turns around and presses her against another wall, her lips still kissing his and his cock lined up with her entrance. The red-haired female urges him to insert it, and so he did.

Peggy moans and Stanley grunts as she was fucked by him, with difficulty because of their position and the warm water pouring down on them, making it hard to keep position. Every centimetre of their skins were covered in a warmth made of both water and intense pleasure.

Stanley pounds his member inside her tight entrance, it clenches around his shaft, trying to keep it inside as long as possible. He continues penetrating her deep, teasing her by pulling his dick all the way out and re-inserting it every time, pounding it inside her as his balls smack against her legs. He starts to suck one of her tits and switches to the another one, repeating the same in a rhythmical way. Her moans get louder as she gets closer to the edge, and she begs for more: harder, faster, and deeper. Peggy feels Stanley getting harder and she knows he's going to cum soon. A couple of minutes later, he starts to fill her tight wet orgasming slit with hot, sticky substance. The mixture of water and the white liquid makes it easier to penetrate her, but she was still so tight she could feel every muscle contraction.

He hears her panting in his ear, moaning and gasping as he brings her to one of the largest orgasms she has ever had. She feels the pressure building and she's unable to escape it as her male friend continues to slam his now hard-as-iron member, deeper in her. He keeps a steady pace of hard and fast. Both bank clerk and reporter look into each others eyes, and keep their gaze locked on each other as her pussy clamps down hard, as wave after wave of pleasure passes through her. Each time her puss clamps down she moans, knowing that's what she's been waiting for. Peggy feels his penis is pumping his seed into her already full vagina.

They are both completely exhausted and slumped against the wall. The water is still warm and it's cleaning them. After a few minutes, they regain their strength, and Peggy turns off the water and reaches for a couple of towels. They dry each other off and try to clean up as much they can. Once they're all dry, they start to dress with their respective clothes.

Xxx

_One hour later…_

Stanley finally arrives to his apartment. Milo receives him very worried.

"Hey, Milo!" he said as he takes him in his arms. "I'm sorry for leaving you alone last night. It was raining and I spent the night at Peggy's apartment. Will you forgive me?"

The dog appears not to mind and starts to lick his owner's face.

"I'll take that as a yes." He said as he leaves him in the floor. "Come on, let's eat something."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxx

So there it is.

My friend loved the first chapter so much (s)he wanted me to continue it, of course, (s)he'll be helping me. This person also has an account, and I might give you later who it is. So far, (s)he wants to stay Anonymous.

I know when I got turned on, by the way. And there are a few parts I laughed at. I'm not used to write this kind of material, but I'm a guy and I should feel no shame. Eh, whatever. I prefer to write those kind of words rather than saying them.

More chapters for this fanfic will be posted, I don't know. That depends on how many reviews I get. And the free time I have. My friend and I are in the same school and our final projects are due to next week. Don't worry, we have finished a 65% of all of them.

In case more chapters get to be posted, I'll be giving it some mature tones, like treating real-life issues, you know, stuff that was considered a taboo in the TV, specially cartoons, during the 90s and earlier.

And yes, I purposely did Stanley a bit OOC, because it'd end looking like rape. I also supposed he's a repressed man who rarely recurs to masturbation. My friend appears to agree with this (at least it sort of explains why The Mask had a (used?) condom in his pocket in the film during the carnival scene).

Let's suppose this takes place sometime later after the series' finale (Screw you Cartoon Network for ending such an awesome childhood cartoon! Ever heard of pairing these two? It could have worked! Or you COULD HAVE brought Tina Carlyle to the series. Where is her, anyways? My friend says she friendzoned Stanley and left.)

And if I f-ed up your childhood then I'm sorry. That was not my intention.

Please review! I want to know what you think!

And if I had grammar mistakes, then I'm sorry!

By the way, want a possible spoiler? Well, here it is:

I want to write a scene where Charlie finds out Stan's no longer a virgin and wants him to sit down to talk about it (he wants to congratulate him and make him tell every detail). Then Stanley says he can't sit very well, making Charlie to think "WTF?"

I said IT'S A POSSIBLE SPOILER.

My friend already made that into a comic that will probably get published in dA or FB.

See ya!


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter III: Plus

Monday finally arrives.

Last night was so… weird. It was supposed to be a talk between two friends, but, it somehow ended, once again, in both male bank clerk and female reporter doing it one more time. This time was different. They changed their roles after a while. They were able to feel what each other felt. It was not pleasurable for Stanley at first. Males are not used to be the inferiors when mating because they simply don't like it, unless they're gay.

Peggy used a harness to penetrate him, thus, letting her to have the control of their activity. At the end, he enjoyed it. However, the anal intercourse has consequences.

Stanley can't sit and run well. He had problems during his shower time. Every minuscule movement that involves the lower back and legs was equal to one of the worst pains someone was able to bear. Motivated by himself (and mostly because of the time), he decided to dress quick, not mattering how much his muscles were protesting on not working.

He finally arrives to Edge City's Bank. Like always, Stanley arrives late. For his luck, Mr. Dickey, Sr. is not around. He left earlier that day to Dade City to some boring reunion with other Bank Bosses.

Charlie sees him arriving and approaches him.

"Stanley, my man. You'll get yourself fired eventually if you continue arriving late to work." He said. "You're lucky Mr. Dickey's returning in a week."

"I'm sorry, Charlie." He replies nervously. "I didn't sleep well." He lies as he approaches, slowly, his work space.

Charlie notes he's sort of strange, but appears not to mind.

His suspicions grow when he notices Stanley's doing his paperwork while standing up.

After an hour or so, Mr. Schumacher approaches him because he decided to talk with his friend, still working without sitting down.

"You're different today." Charlie said.

"What are you talking about?" Stanley replies, sort of nervous.

Charlie examines his friend closely, much to the now scared Mr. Ipkiss' dismay. He discovers something, and, just for fun, he decides to trick Stanley to confess it.

"You know what the tiredness, pain in the lower back, and yawning a lot mean, right?" Mr. Schumacher asks

"Charlie, I did not sleep with someone if that's what you're thinking." Stanley defended himself

"I was going to say a lot of workout in the gym for the first time. Congratulations, Stanley! You're a virgin no more!" he grins "Welcome to the club!"

"Charlie! Shhh!"

"I'm so proud of you, my man!" he said as he rubs his shoulder. "Come on! Let's sit down and talk about this. I want to hear everything with details!"

"Sorry, Charlie. But I can't sit and walk well." He sighed. "I have to go to the restroom." He leaves

Charlie has a freaked out expression after hearing his friend saying he can't sit.

_What the hell, Stanley?_ The shocked womanizer thought.

Meanwhile, at the Evening Star, Peggy Brandt is typing some notes in her computer. She takes a cup of coffee near one of the drawers. It's like the tenth one today. She seems tired, thanks to her activity with Stanley last night. She enjoyed it, especially because she experimented how it felt being the 'male' in the intercourse.

Now, she's starting to feel dizzy, probably because of the huge amount of caffeine in her system. She can't take it longer and storms to the restroom. Murray, the editor, saw the reporter and starts to wonder if she's okay. He decides to ask her after she leaves the restroom.

After a couple of minutes, she finally leaves and Murray approaches her.

"Hey, Ms. Brandt" he said. "Are you okay? You seem to be dizzy."

"I'm fine, Murray." She replied. "It might have been something I ate this morning."

"Or the caffeine." He added "I think you should leave it for a—"

He doesn't finish due to the reporter storming again to the bathroom. He can clearly hear she's barfing.

"…long while." he ends his sentence

Again, after a while, she leaves. This time, she looks more tired.

"Listen." He said. "I think you should really go home and rest."

"Murray, I need this job." She said. "I don't want to go home early."

Murray sighs.

"Okay. But remember, you are here under your own risk." The male said. "If you decide to go home, that's fine. Just tell me and then I'll notify Ramsey."

"Fine. Thank you."

Both return to their duties.

Xxxxx

It's finally five o'clock. And everyone knows what time is it. Well, not really, just the Mask himself. It's fun time!

The green-headed man is just being cool in the streets until his favourite guinea pigs, aka Lt. Kellaway and Doyle, arrive in their car.

"Alright, Mask!" Lt. Kellaway said as he takes his handcuffs. "You're under arrest for loitering."

"Me? Loitering?" he said and then he spins until he's some dumb teenager with a magazine. "But bro, man. I ain't loitering', see? I'm readin' a mag!"

"Give me that!" the black-haired man takes the magazine at the same time the Mask hides somewhere. The lieutenant looks at the publication again and sees the main headline:_ DaBumb!_ It even has the picture of a black, sphere-shaped bomb that was making some funny, recognizable noises.

"What the-?" the Lieutenant growls

Suddenly, the magazine explodes in a cartoony way, leaving Kellaway and Doyle black.

The Mask appears out of nowhere dressed as a fireman with a giant "M" in his uniform.

"Alright pal!" he said with a suave, fireman accent. "Tell me where I can find the fire."

Kellaway starts to growl like the dog he is.

"Aye! I think I came late." The fake fireman replies

Lt. Kellaway continues growling at the same time he takes the handcuffs out of his jacket and tries to arrest the green-headed man. As always, he fails.

"Aw, come on, Mitchy!" the green-headed maniac said, who was now in his regular outfit. "Why so serious? Put a smile on that face." He said at the same time he puts his fingers near Kellaway's mouth, forming a giant, Joker-like reminiscent grin.

The lieutenant turns red. If there's a thing he really, really hates, aside from the Mask, is being called 'Mitchy' and he doesn't let anyone, not even his wife or mother, to call him like that. Instead of making a smile, he attacks the Mask viciously.

Kellaway continues trying to screw up the Mask, but fails.

"Come on, Lieutenant!" the green maniac said. "You can do better! Don'cha think?"

He manages to make him angrier than before. He gets to his car and tries to hit the mask with it.

"Hey, I was trying to have some fun!" the Mask said as he evades the car. "Lumpy Lieutenant plus car versus the Marvellous Mask with no car is not fair!"

The Mask starts to spin until he's a Speed Racer-like driver with an awesome looking Batmobile-reminiscent vehicle.

"But now it's fair! Ha ha ha!" he said

Both cars start to hit each other until the lieutenant finally snaps and, using a strategy, finally manages to defeat the Mask.

He leaves his car and takes another couple of handcuffs. He approaches to the lying-on-the-floor Mask, who is now wearing his trademark suit.

"You… defeated… me." He said with angst. "All I wanted... was to have some fun. Did you hear it? Fun!"

The lieutenant is touched by this and admits he went too far this time.

"Well… I'm… I'm sorry." He said as he puts away the handcuffs. "I didn't mean it."

"I just wanted to play a game with you, Lieutenant!" the Mask said as he coughs. "Just one game." He keeps coughing

"Well… I… what kind of game you want to play?" Lt. Kellaway asks. "Tea party? Solitaire? Pool?"

"Come closer". The Mask said with a faint voice

The Lieutenant obeys.

"What kind of game?" he asks

"It… starts… with 'W'"

"Water polo? Weather master? Wacky darts?"

The Mask shakes his head.

"What game, then?"

"Are you sure you want to play it with me?"

"Yes."

"Are you really sure?"

"Yes."

"Are you really, really sure?"

"Yes.

"Are you really, really, really sure?"

"Yes!"

The Mask grins faintly.

"I want to play a game called..." he said as he moved fast to the Lieutenant's back. "WEDGIE!" he said as he gave the Lieutenant an atomic wedgie.

"See ya later, Lieutenant Smellaway!" The Mask said as he leaves spinning and laughing like a maniac.

"MAAASSSKK! I'M GOING TO GET YOU NEXT TIME!" the angered Lieutenant said as he removed himself from his underwear.

Doyle arrives eating a strawberry donut. It seems he left after the magazine exploded.

Mitch sees him, still angry.

"Where were you?" he asks to his partner

Doyle just replies with a "Hm?" while eating his donut

In the meanwhile, Peggy's sleeping in her bed. She feels worse than ever. At least her nausea is gone, maybe for a while. Her headache is so annoying she can't sleep well. She's changing sleeping positions every three minutes and she can't feel comfortable.

She finally wakes up and starts to meditate why she is feeling like crap. And the caffeine has nothing to do with it, that's for sure. Suddenly, something comes to her mind. She goes to a pharmacy to buy a pregnancy test.

She finds one and starts to feel dizzy at the check out. Luckily, she didn't barf.

Peggy returns to her apartment and locks the door. She leaves to the bathroom and opens it. The female reporter reads the instructions and does what it says. Now all she has to do was to wait an average of three minutes.

This is it.

The longest three minutes of her life have arrived. Her anticipation grows. She can't wait. Not that 'long'. The only thing left is either face the truth or laugh about the false alarm.

The time has passed. She sighs and takes the test.

Peggy looks at it and it shows a minus sign. She sighs in relieving, and, after a few minutes, she finally calms down, takes a phone, and dials a number.

_Two days later…_

The female reporter is returning to her apartment from a long duty. Nothing special, since a few weeks ago. It's like the villains decided to screw another city. Or maybe they're plotting some kind of master plan to finally defeat the Mask. Who knows? All she was able to report today was Mayor Tilton's speech about why he has to use the money for the streets instead of investing it to the public schools. It just took five minutes to figure out it was full of black lies. Who made him a mayor, anyways?

Peggy finally arrives to her apartment and sighs. As she is heading towards the bed, with the intent upon getting at least a few minutes of relaxation, the phone rings. Peggy snatches it off the hook with a little more force than necessary.

"Hello?" She asked.

"Hello, Good Afternoon!" a cheerful male voice on the other end replied. "May I speak with Ms. Peggy Brandt?"

"That's me."

"Oh, good! I'm Brian Cooper, from the Edge City's Hospital."

"Okay. How may I help you? Is there a problem or something?"

"No, none at all." Brian replied. "Dr. Coulson got your lab results back a while ago and he's sending your prescription to the pharmacy. It should be available for you to pick up any time after four today." He continued. "Oh! And congratulations, by the way."

"Congratulations?" She asked. "For what?"

"The pregnancy test was positive."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxx

So there it is.

More chapters for this fanfic will be posted, I don't know. That depends on how many reviews I get. And the free time I have.

In case more chapters get to be posted, I'll be giving it some mature tones, like treating real-life issues, you know, stuff that was considered a taboo in the TV, specially cartoons, during the 90s and earlier.

Man, my friend and I were laughing our asses off when writing this chapter. At first, we wanted to make it a disease, and then we ended with the idea of a 'parasite'.

If the Mask parts sucked, then I'm sorry. I think I need practice on those.

And if I f-ed up your childhood then I'm sorry. That was not my intention.

Please review! I want to know what you think!

And if I had grammar mistakes, then I'm sorry!

Oh, BTW! This is a gift from me. The original draft of the 'pregnancy test' part:

**The time has passed. She sighs and takes the test.

Peggy looks at it and it shows a faint sign. She looks at the instructions and it seems there's nothing about it. _Damn it!_ She thought. Her heart is beating quickly. After a few minutes, she finally calms down, takes a phone, and dials a number.**

That's not an error. I have to reasons:

1.- I didn't want to make it obvious.

2.- Some of those tests are screwed up and not reliable, so this is me trolling a female character.

Oh, man. I should really, really get a life.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter IV: Terminate

She really wasn't prepared for that.

Suddenly, a long silence came.

It appears Dr. Coulson had run one more test, especially after she mentioned nausea, dizziness, and tiredness. She figured he'd be looking for some virus, parasite, or disease. Well, he found she's being the host of a "special" kind of parasite. And due to the circumstances, adding she was also shocked, she feels guilty about it. _Pregnant? Me?_ She thought.

"Ms. Brandt?" the male receptionist asks. "Is everything fine?"

"Are you sure there's no kind of mistake?" she asked, trying to recover her voice

"The results never lie."

"But two days ago, I took a pregnancy test and it came out negative!"

"Well, Ms. Brandt. When the home pregnancy tests turn negative the results are less reliable. For example, if you took it too early, you could be pregnant but there may not be enough HCG in your body, which is what home pregnancy tests detect in the urine."

She keeps silence.

Mr. Cooper perceives a sad-like quiver. Because of his job, he has dealt with both happy and disappointed pregnant women. He knows what to do and he's making sure nobody, not even Dr. Coulson or any other doctor, is around.

"Well, I'm really not supposed to tell you this, but, as I heard how you reacted, maybe this person can help you out." He said with a lower voice. "Do you have something to write?"

"Yes, yes I have." She replied as she took her little notebook and a pencil.

"Okay. The number is 552-2678. Then ask for a Dr. Fred Shipman. It's all I can say."

"Thank you."

"I'm glad I could help. Good Morning."

Both hang the telephone.

The shock is still there.

She can't believe she's having a baby.

Peggy Brandt sits silently in the nearest corner of her apartment. A tightening of her throat and a short intake of breath forecast the explosion of disappointment in form of tears. Her sobbing is too strong in it's intensity that it shakes her body. Her face is wrinkled with despair. She's not able to control the tears that are pouring down her face. At the same time, she bits her lip to keep herself from crying aloud. She's sort of successful.

Suddenly, she presses her abdomen with her hand, slowly. She recognizes she can't hide it for long. Somebody's going to find out soon. The red-headed reporter doesn't know what to do. It's for sure a baby was not in her plans. She doesn't like kids.

She cleans her face and tries to calm herself down after fifteen minutes of incessant crying. She remembers Brian gave her a number of someone that could help her. However, he didn't say what kind of. A lot of things come to her mind. Maybe Dr. Shipman was some psychologist or maybe another gynaecologist.

The only way to find out how he'll help her is calling him.

The female reporter dials the number the male receptionist gave to her. She gets nervous; because she really has no idea what kind of help was he referring to. Her heart is still beating fast, until finally a female voice in the other line answers.

"Bypass Clinic Centre. This is Marcy Grayson speaking. How may I help you?"

The clinic's name sounds very familiar to her. However, she can't recall where she heard about it before.

"Good Afternoon." Peggy replies. "May I speak with Dr. Fred Shipman, please?"

"Sure, I'm transferring you now." The female receptionist said.

Then she waits a little while until a mature, male voice answers.

"Hello. This is Dr. Fred Shipman. How may I help you?"

Since she had no idea what kind of help he can provide, she decides to act a bit more curious than she is now.

"Good Afternoon, Dr. Shipman." She said, trying to hide her nervousness. "Someone gave me this number. He said you could help me with my… problem."

"I understand." He replies. "You want a termination."

"Excuse me?"

"An abortion."

The word scares her. Now she remembers. One of the reporters of the Evening Star got severely injured when he was covering the notice about the bombings and death traits against the doctors and employees who worked there. Luckily, the male reporter managed to fully recover after that.

"Miss?" Dr. Shipman asks. "Are you still there?"

"Yes, I was… I'm a bit nervous. It's the first time I…"

"Don't worry about it, Miss. It's normal for first timers to be nervous, especially when they're calling for information. So, are you interested in an appointment?"

"Sure. The sooner, the better."

"Okay. Let me check the agenda. One moment, please."

It's official. Her heart is beating so fast she can still believe what she is doing. So far, no one knows about her secret. And she's not planning to comment it to Stanley. She prefers to be silent about it and lie if he asks her if she got knocked up or something.

"Well, I have one space left for tomorrow." The doctor said. "At 4:20. Is it fine for you?"

"Of course, of course. I'll take it."

"Good. I just need your name to add you to my agenda."

"Peggy Brandt."

"Well, Ms. Brandt," Dr. Shipman said "I must tell you you have to arrive ten minutes earlier. However, if you decide not to come I'll assume you decided to keep your baby, unless you want to re-schedule the appointment. Okay?

"Okay. Thank you, doctor."

"My pleasure."

And then they both hang the phone.

Meanwhile, Stanley finally arrives to his apartment after a long day of work and dealing with that nagging landlady of his. If he had the chance, the money, and the opportunity, he'd move to another place far, far away from her.

Milo greets him with a ball and tries to make his owner to play with him. He doesn't mind at first, but later, he starts to play with him. To relieve himself, he takes one of his old Tex Avery VHS and starts to watch them, with his Jack Russell dog sitting in his lap. At first, nothing, and then, he's laughing at the situations of every character. One by one, he's watching his tapes until he recovers his cheerfulness.

An hour later, he decides to give a call to his friend reporter. He hasn't heard of her since two days ago. And it was sort of odd, unless she has another person to nag until she gets what could be the best story ever.

He dials her number and he's sent immediately to the answering machine. Stanley prefers to try again later and leaves to take a bath. By this time, his pain in the ass finally disappeared. And he didn't note it until today. He makes a promise with himself: never have anal intercourses again.

Then, he starts to laugh. He remembered Charlie asking him if he loved men. He answered with a 'yes' and the womanizer got even more scared. Stanley decided to ask why the question and hi friends tell him all. The shy man laughs about that. He couldn't believe Charlie thought he was gay and misinterpreted the 'not sitting' problem he had. He explained to him the woman he made love with used a dildo to penetrate him. He didn't reveal her name, by the way, much to Mr. Schumacher's dismay, who wanted to know who managed to convince Stanley to loss his virginity.

Now, he finishes his shower and changes to his Rorschach-like pyjamas, something he hadn't used since a couple of years ago. And it's not even 7:00 p.m.

He goes back to his telephone and dials up Peggy's number. He's waiting for a response or something from her, and he's again sent to the answering machine.

He sighs and goes to his bed, where Milo was resting.

"Milo, do you think she's evading me?" he asks to his dog

The dog makes a 'Probably' sign.

"Well, maybe she's busy reporting something." He said. "The next time I see her I'll ask her." He laughs a bit.

The next day he goes off to work. Surprisingly, he arrives a couple of minutes earlier than usual. He starts to make his daily work, dealing with the same problems with different people, checking the accounts, opening ones and closing others, and checking the bank's vault.

Some hours later, the bank closes. The employees are leaving to their respective houses.

Stanley's driving his screwed up car. The avenue he takes to go back home is blocked due to a car crash that might have happened earlier. Due to this, he's forced to take another way instead.

It's around 4:10 p.m.

At the same time, Peggy's leaving a taxi that brought her to the Bypass Clinic Centre. For her bad luck, the driver asks her if she is going to abort of something. She lies and tells him she is going to report by going undercover. The driver laughs a bit and wishes her all the luck in the world, since reporters have a lot of black fame when doing their jobs in incognito. Some of them are humiliated; others have their houses burned down, and the ones who have the worst luck ever end dead.

The yellow cab leaves as she walks forward to the clinic.

"Hey, Peg! Are you busy?" a familiar male voice asks

She turns her head and sees Stanley is approaching her. While he was driving home, he spotted her and decided to talk with her.

"Stanley, can we talk later?" she asks, hiding her nervousness "I'm kind of late for an appointment."

"Appointment?" he wonders. "Are you sick of something?"

"It's nothing but a parasite that will keep growing unless I get rid of it." She replies. "Just a minor surgery and I'll be fine as new."

"Parasite?"

Now he wonders what kind of parasite is affecting her. He's slow, probably not his fault. However, something inside him tells him to look the clinic again. He reads the name and starts to realize he heard it before. It seems that it's not only famous for what the doctors who work there do, but it's also the place every reporter fears to go to report.

Suddenly, he starts to remember the events of almost a week ago and the possible hints Peggy gave him. He starts to match them with what is currently going on. Then, he comes to a conclusion and decides to confront her.

"Wait," he said. "You're pregnant? And you're going to-"

"Mind your own business, Stanley!" She said, trying to continue walking and ignoring him.

"Peggy, you can't do this!" he said "You'll eventually regret it!" he takes her arm

"Of course I won't!" she frees her arm. "Now let me go. I have to do this!"

"You don't have to do this. Do you really, really want to do it?"

"My mind's made up."

"Peggy!"

"Just go away!"

"Give one good reason why I should leave." He crosses his arms

"Do you really think I'm keeping it?" she hisses "I-I can't let this ruin my career as a reporter!"

"You should have thought of that before you seduced me the first, second, and third time! I don't want you to give up this baby!"

"Why the hell not!"

"If you do it, believe it'll be even worse than what you did to me like a year ago." He said "Remember when you sold me to Dorian and his boys? I know it's different, but at least I'm still alive!"

She is silent.

Those words stung. It is true that Peggy is selfish, always putting herself and her career above everything else. She isn't going to deny it. She has lied and put other people in danger just to get some hot-selling story for the tabloids. She recognizes she should have gotten help when her landlord locked her out from her apartment instead of selling the only male friend she has (ever) had to the mob just to get some money. Stanley's no longer upset over that because he forgave her. Sure, some bad feelings toward each other still remain, but not as pronounced and serious as before.

"Do not give it up." Stanley pleads with a calmed voice. "Please."

She's still thinking again about aborting. Even if she does it, she'll be bearing that guilt for the rest of her life. The thought of murdering a vulnerable thing is unbearable and unforgivable.

Finally, she approaches him and he hugs her at the same time she starts to cry in remorse and guilt. She's saying again and again she's sorry about what she was going to do and that she actually doesn't want to kill an unborn child. The male believes her because he knows Peggy's telling the truth and that it was so hard for her to admit it.

"Come on." He said as he hugs her and rubs her back. "Let's talk about this at my apartment."

They arrive to the male bank clerk's apartment. Both enter and Stanley closes the door. By this time, Peggy seems to be more calmed.

"There must be a solution, you know?" he comments "And aborting doesn't count as one."

"What about give it up for adoption?" she suggests as she sits in the bed

Stanley doesn't like the idea about it and shakes his head in disapproval.

"What if we try with other kind of ideas?" he said

"Like what?"

Then, he sits near her and consoles her at the same time he tries to come up with an idea.

"Let's get married." He suggests

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxx

More chapters for this fanfic will be posted, I don't know. That depends on how many reviews I get. And the free time I have.

In case more chapters get to be posted, I'll be giving it some mature tones, like treating real-life issues, you know, stuff that was considered a taboo in the TV, specially cartoons, during the 90s and earlier.

I personally think Peggy will be able to have an abortion in case she's knocked up and Stanley will do whatever to stop her (if he finds out before its late xD).

And if I f-ed up your childhood then I'm sorry. That was not my intention.

Please review! I want to know what you think!

And if I had grammar mistakes, then I'm sorry!


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter V: Propose and Tell

"What?"

"I think we should get married. I mean, we're in this together, right? We're friends. We know each other." He said as he puts an arm around her waist.

They aren't in love with each other. They just have a proper relationship as friends.

"What do you say?" he asks

"I need to meditate it." She replies. "This is so quick and…"

"Awkward?"

"Yes. Don't you think we should give us time?"

"Until your baby bump starts to show?" he raises an eyebrow.

There's a huge silence between them. She doesn't know what to reply.

A minute later, deciding its better now than later or never, Stanley removes his college graduation ring and gets down on bended knee. He takes Peggy's hand.

"Wait, hang on…" she said

He ignores her and continues his improvised marriage proposal.

"I know this ring isn't the appropriate one, but at least it's a ring." He continues. "I'm also aware it seems fast, but, believe me, it's better for both of us."

Peggy wants to laugh. This is so ridiculous.

"Uhm... Peggy Brandt…" he takes a deep breath and then smiles at her. "…will you marry me?"

She can't contain herself anymore and starts to laugh.

"Is that your version of yes?" he asks dumbfounded

The female reporter calms down a bit.

"Yes, but…" she said

"But?"

"Let's slow it down." She continues. "I want to be with you, but..."

"Yes?"

"...I…"

Stanley lifts an eyebrow up.

"… We'll still be friends?" she asks. "I mean, nothing's going to change between us once we're 'husband and wife', right?"

"I think we can work with it." The male replies as he's putting Peggy the ring in her finger. However, it's too big for her.

"Leave the proposal without the ring, Stanley." She said. "So far I don't want people asking me who I am marrying to."

"Are you sure?" he said as he puts his ring back in his finger

"Definitely."

He sighs a bit and starts to chuckle.

"We can get used to this." Peggy said. "Maybe one day we might develop romantic feelings for each other."

"You think?"

"Who knows but time?"

After hearing 'time', Stanley starts to focus in her flat abdomen.

"You won't stay like that for a long while." He said. "Someone will find out you're with child. I think we need to speed the things up."

She nods with a light smile and puts her hand above Stanley's.

After a couple of hours, both friends decided it was the best to tell their respective families about them getting married in a couple of weeks or less. Stanley picks up the phone and dials a number.

Then, a female voice answers.

"Hello?"

"Hi mom. It's Stanley." he said.

"Stan, I only raised one son, so I know it's you." Stanley's mom chuckles. "Everything alright honey? How's Milo?" his mother tucks the phone on her ear while preparing tea.

"Well… we're both fine. Uhm… I'll be visiting you later. It'll just be a quick visit… I… I have something to tell you. And I think it's better to... to tell you in person."

"That's wonderful. Whatever that something is, I hope it's not some bad news." She replies

"No, no. On the contrary." He continues. "Well… I'll see you there in an hour or two. Bye!"

He hangs the phone.

_Wuss, wuss wuss! I'm such a wuss!_ He thought as he gives the phone to Peggy.

"I think it'd be better if we give them a surprise visit." She said

"Oh, well. That's fine." He didn't know how to reply.

Xxxxxx

_One hour later…_

Stanley and Peggy finally arrive to the house.

He knocks the door and sighs, still not knowing what he was going to tell to his mother.

"She has to know, right?" Stanley asks to Peggy

"Is it that or being ignored by her forever." She replies

The door finally is opened. Not by Stanley's mother, but Rachel, his 8-year-old niece.

"Uncle Stanley!" She greets him and hugs him. "It's good to see you again."

"Thanks, Rachel." He said and holds her in his arms. "Has your mother arrived from work?"

"Yes. She's with grandma and Allan." The girl replies and then notices Peggy, who is waiting to be introduced. "Is she your _new _girlfriend, Uncle Stanley?" she asks curiously as she looks back at him. "She looks better than the _last one_."

"Rachel!"

Peggy tries not to snicker at this. She fakes she's coughing, but it appears the little girl doesn't buy it.

Both enter to the house.

The living room is painted with soft colours. Two women are sitting in the couches. The older one holding a little, young, black-haired boy who appears to be sleeping.

Stanley lets Rachel leave to her mother.

"Hi, mom. Hi, Amanda." He goes towards them and hugs each one.

"Oh, Stan! I haven't see you in a long while." His sister says as she hugs him. "How are you?"

"I'm very fine, thanks."

Amanda is Stanley's older sister. She's divorced and has the full custody of her children: Rachel, 8, and Allan, 2. Her husband cheated on her several times, although she is just aware of two. She knew about it due to a photo Rachel took. That day, the sun was so orange and it looked so… breath-taking. Later that day, her mother went to a local pharmacy where photos were processed. Once she received it, she started to admire it. However, she noted Michael with two women. And she was able to tell they were his lovers, due to where he had his hands.

After confronting him, she took her children and their respective stuff to never come back again. She currently lives with her mother. She helps her to raise her children. Rachel received her photo (edited of course) a couple of weeks later after the divorce was complete. At first she wondered why it took so long if it was just one photo. Later, she was told its "beautifulness" made it so difficult to process.

Rachel is a curious and adventurous young girl who'd often believe everything she hears or is told. She'd do what any female of her age would do: play tea party and talking about who's the most handsome man in the world either with her friends, plushies, or even Allan (who wouldn't understand a word), watch girly cartoons, and she'd even make some new dresses for her Barbies. Her baby brother, on the other hand, is a little aware of what's going on. He rarely talks. He'd rather hide under his bed than playing in the park with other kids. Allan has some weird "rituals", like putting his shoes behind his bed, putting all his toys away after playing with them, and getting upset when something is moved from its place. He sometimes wonders were his father is and searches everywhere, from the front yard to the toilet. And he gets disappointed when he doesn't find him.

Mildred, Stanley's and Amanda's mother, is a caring, loveable woman. She has always supported her children since they were very young, and she still supports them. She told Amanda to stay with her all the time she needed after what happened to her. She doesn't mind Rachel running and bringing a couple of friends to the house. It always brings her memories when she was raising her children.

"So, what do you wanted to tell us?" his mother asked

He sighs a bit, due to nervousness.

"Well… I…" he continues. He doesn't know how to tell them. Then, he comes up with something. "There's going to be a new member of the family."

"Is your girlfriend pregnant or something, Uncle Stanley?" Rachel asks curiously

"Rachel!" both adult siblings exclaim a bit surprised

"What?" she defends and then turns to her mother. "He said 'a new member of the family'. The same thing you told me when you were pregnant, mom." She smiles

"What your uncle meant, little miss…" Peggy decides to tell them at the same time she takes Stanley's hand. "Is that we're getting married."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxx

Sorry it took long. School.

Here it is. I remember in an episode of the animated series Stanley mentioned a sister. I figured out she's older than him and there it is. I don't really remember if his mother appears in the series (or is mentioned). I included her just because.

Next chapter will include Peggy's family.

Don't worry. The Mask will appear again. I just need to accommodate his parts.

And if I f-ed up your childhood then I'm sorry. That was not my intention.

Please review! I want to know what you think!

And if I had grammar mistakes, then I'm sorry!


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter VI: Approval and Disapproval

Both adult females gasp joyfully in unison. At the same time, Allan wakes up and doesn't appear aware of what's going on.

"That's awesome!" Rachel said. "I'm going to have a new aunt!"

"Congratulations, son!" His mother said as she leaves Allan with Amanda and goes to hug her son. "I'm so happy you finally found that special someone! By the way…" she said as she stops hugging him. "You didn't introduce her. Who is she?" she asks, still filled with joy.

"Oh, sorry." He said and clears his throat as he goes behind the female reporter. "Mom, Amanda. She's my soon-to-be-wife, Peggy Brandt. She's a reporter from the Evening Star."

"Peggy Brandt?" Rachel asks and turns her head to the reporter. "Are you the one who writes the "Mask" stories for the newspaper?"

"Why, yes. I am." Peggy replies

"That's so cool!" the 8-year-old said. "Have you ever met the Mask? Is he awesome as you write him? Is he?" she asks eagerly

"Well… technically…" the female reporter continues. "I've met the Mask. And believe me, he's a 'cool' guy."

"Uncle Stanley, you must marry her!" Rachel said excited. "She's even more awesome than before! I have to tell this to my friends! They'll get so jealous!" she said as she leaves to her room with a phone.

"That was a bit… awkward." the red-headed reporter said

"What do you expect? She's eight years." Amanda said. "She's a fan of that… _wacky_ superhero thing."

"So, Peggy." Mildred said. "How exactly you and Stan met?"

"Almost a year ago, I went to the bank to get more information about something that happened at the 'Ripley's Auto finishing'. And since Stanley was the last customer before the attack, I thought he might have had an idea." She replied

"Then we started to hang out, first as source and reporter, then as friends." Stanley said. "And when we noticed, I was already proposing to her." He giggles as he takes Peggy's hand.

Everyone makes a friendly laugh.

They continue talking. As the talk progresses, Amanda is a bit suspicious, since her baby brother never mentioned having a _female _reporter friend. He didn't even mention her when he first brought Tina to the house.

After an hour full of talking and embarrassing childhood anecdotes, Stanley and Peggy leave.

"Stan, may I talk you in private?" his sister asks.

"Sure." He then turns his head to Peggy. "Wait me in the car. I'll be right back."

And then they leave to a private place.

"Stan. I know you may think I'm intruding your life, but I think I need to know." His sister said

"Know what?" he wonders

"How _exactly _do Tina and you ended the relationship?"

Xxx

_Flashback _

_Two and a half months after Dorian's demise._

That was the day when she told him those three simple words that cause so much change and some damage.

It was a sunny day like any other one at Edge City. Stanley had to do some paperwork and check if the movements the bank cashiers were making were the correct ones. He felt so happy. These last months were the best of his life. Sure, Kellaway still had him in the aim due to the 'dancing cops' thing. The grumpy lieutenant visited the bank every day, and had a few undercover officers around the bank, who were starting to think Mitch was just obsessed over a man that turned out to be innocent despite the evidence pointing to him. At the end, the forensics team (yes, he went to that extreme), much to his dismay, concluded part of the evidence was forged and that Mr. Ipkiss was in no way involved in it.

Tina arrived, good-looking as always. She seemed serious, firm, and unsure. She went towards her boyfriend, who greeted her with a hug and a kiss in the cheek.

"Tina, how are you?" Stanley asked "Wanting to see your boyfriend in action?"

"Stanley, we need to talk." She said

Charlie, who was passing by and heard what she said, he made a "you're f'd" gesture and left.

"Of course." He replied. "What about in an hour?"

"No, Stanley. Now."

"Is it everything alright?" he asked worried.

She sighs and then, with determination, Tina finally said what she wanted to say.

"I'm leaving you."

Ouch.

"W…What?" he just stared blankly at her, dumbfounded and surprised

"We both know I made myself perfectly clear, Stanley." She said, crossing her arms. "Let's break up."

Shock rode his face and he snapped his neck back as if to make sure he knew what he heard.

"I feel like you're not the same I remember." She said. "You've changed so much. The way you talk, the way you act, the way you laugh. Sometimes I feel… I don't even know you anymore. You're jeopardizing your job for me. To watch me how I do at the clubs and sometimes, when I see you there, I think… it's… like you don't even know me at all. You just concentrate on my beauty."

"Tina…"

"I'm confused, and I don't know if I fell in love with you or your wacky, green-headed counterpart. And in times, I think, you actually got the mask back after we got rid of it and you hide it somewhere."

She's right. After Milo brought it back to the apartment, Stanley decided it was the best to keep it, since he saw how dangerous that thing can be, especially when it landed on Dorian. He hid the wooden relic in his closet, under his underwear.

"Tina, you know we love each other! I'll even quit my job just to be with you! My job doesn't matter for me as long as we are together!" Stanley begged

"You sometimes don't act your age." She said. "Look at you. You're an overgrown man-child. You still watch cartoons and you sometimes don't get what I'm saying."

"But you said you'll love me not mattering how 'immature' I looked or was!"

"Stanley, I will always love you. You were my first _real _boyfriend, my first _real_ love…"

"Tina please don't do this. We can work it out. I will lay off cartoons! I'll be what you want me to be!"

"I want us to see other people Stanley, I'm sorry."

Stanley's tears started falling.

"You promised you would always love me as long as I loved you! Remember? You said that we belonged together! But now not. And it's because of me, right?"

The singer looked at the bank clerk fighting back his own tears.

"You're a smart man, Stanley. Think about it." She continues. "Were we ever really, truly happy together? Or were you the only one who felt…like this?"

A silence surrounded them.

"Sometimes, Stanley… I just don't really get you." She hugged him one last time as a couple of tears left her face. "Goodbye."

And she left using the same door she used to enter to the bank for the first time.

_End of Flashback_

xxx

"She left me because I… I was not the man she thought I was." Stanley said in a monotone voice.

How her brother replied it's enough for her. It's obvious she ended the relationship.

"I'm sorry." She said.

"It's okay." He said. "I don't feel anything for her anymore. I have to go. I'm kind of… busy. Bye bye." He said as he leaves.

Stanley arrives to the car and sees Peggy is still waiting for him.

"What did take you so long?" she asks

"Uh, nothing." He lies. "Just sibling stuff. That's all." He said as he gets in the car.

After they get in the car, both leave to their next stop.

"Stanley, are you alright?" Peggy asks

"Yes, I'm just, kind of… nervous. That's all". He lies

Fifteen minutes later they arrive.

Now the 32-year-old male is nervous. It's the first time he meets the parents of a female friend.

Peggy sighs a bit and, as she's about to knock the door, a 35-year-old male opens it from the other end. He smiles when he sees the female.

"Hey, Peggy!" he hugs her. "How's my only sister doing?"

"I'm fine, Elliot. Thanks." She hugs him back

"Where are you doing here, by the way?" he asks. "A surprise visit to Mom, Dad, and Tobey?" he then notes Stanley. "Who's your friend?"

"Yes, of course. And he's Stanley. My…" she clears her throat. "…future husband."

"Really?" he gets surprised. "I'm so proud of you. But I have to go back to my office. You don't have an idea how my patients turn when I'm late. We'll talk later. By the way, they're still in the living room. See ya later!" he said as he leaves to his car, a white Mustang.

"I thought you were only child." Stanley comments.

"I'm the only female my parents had." She replies.

They enter to the house.

It's sort of rustic. Full of wooden decorations.

Peggy's parents, Richard, 58, and Lillian, 55, are in the living room, staring at their daughter and company. They look sort of intimidating, probably because of the age.

"Hi, mom. Hi, dad." She said, sort of shy.

"Hi, Peggy." His father greets with a blank voice. "How've you been?"

"Fine, dad. Thanks." she said as she and Stanley take a seat.

"What's the motive of your visit? And who's your friend?" Lillian asks.

"Well… there's something I wanted to tell you." She said calmly. "He's Stanley Ipkiss and I'm going to marry him in a couple of weeks or less."

Her parents, especially Richard, try not to laugh about the male's last name.

"What kind of surname is Ipkiss?" her father laughs while her mother stays discrete

Stanley feels a bit ashamed.

"Dad, please stop." His daughter said.

"You're marrying him? He's a wimp whose bones I can crush with my bare hands in a second or less." He keeps making fun of his daughter's future husband

"Richard, I think you really need to stop." His wife ordered

"Come on, woman." He responds. "Would you let your daughter to marry a wimpy man like him? I mean, look at that guy, I bet he has money problems. I also bet he has a crappy car."

"Dad!" Peggy snaps his attention

"I forbid you to marry him, Peg." Her father said as he stops making fun of Stanley, who is hiding his face with his hands. "I won't let you to get a lot of debts and misery."

"Dad, I love him." She said

"Then stop loving him and forget about Steven." Richard ordered.

"It's Stanley!" she corrects him

"Whatever. I don't care and I don't give a damn. I don't want to see him again. And that's final." Richard roars

"Mom! Help me!" she begs

"I'm sorry, but…" Lillian said. "…your father's right. I don't believe he's the man for you, Peggy."

Peggy leaves the living room, crying.

Stanley follows and decides to go to the car to wait. He doesn't even say "Bye" or something to her parents.

Tobey, 30, who has heard everything from the other room, follows his sister and stops her.

"Hey, sorry about what Mom and Dad said." Tobey said as Peggy stops, still with a few tears on her face. "I don't know why they said that. But I don't care. I wish you all the luck in the world for you and your 'Mr. Right'." He said as he hugs and comforts his sister. "Don't worry about our parents. They'll get used to."

Peggy knows she can count with her older brothers. They've been helping her since she was able to use her memory.

"You know as I know Elliot and I are always with you." He said. "Maybe Mom and Dad did a crappy job on raising us and not even giving a damn when we needed help or when we were hurt or something, but we didn't allow them to lower our self-esteem. After all, Dad's a real _dick._"

The red-haired reporter snickers about the double-sensed 'joke' the black-haired male said.

"Why do you still live with them?" she asks

"There are a few things they don't know about 'the actual era' as they call it and they forbid me to leave them. Sure, I can hang out with my friends, but I can't return late or I'll get grounded."

"They still ground you?"

"Sure. They still lock me up in the same dark, leaky room they locked us up when we did something they didn't like."

"And why is Elliot still visiting?"

"He's a psychologist, remember? He thinks Mom and Dad have unresolved problems and he's trying to help them out. So far, they don't want to cooperate."

Peggy admires the patience of her brothers. She has always thought her parents preferred Elliot and Tobey over her because of her gender, which is ultimately true. At first, she didn't realize it, but her older siblings did. They were taking care of her like any 'caring' sibling would do to their parents' young offspring.

"Remember. You, Elliot, and I are a pride, and we take care of each other." He said.

"Right." Peggy nods.

"Good girl." He said as he rubs her sister's head. "I suggest you to go back home and rest. Take care. Oh, and go ahead with your wedding. I'll be there."

He lets her go and she smiles.

She goes and enters to the car and sees a disappointed Stanley.

"Are you alright?" she asks as she closes the car's door.

"Your parents are monsters." He said.

"I thought they'll change after I left the house." She said and then turns her head to him. "I guess I was wrong."

"Don't worry, Peggy. I need to take a bath and relax a bit." He sighs. "Want to join?"

"I won't join you in your bath." She said

"Fine for me." He said as he turns on the car and drives to his apartment.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxx

I hate Peggy's parents with a passion :I

Unfortunately, parents like that exist. Thank God mine are awesome… well… at least my mom. Dad is a complete… donkey. And I partially based Richard off him and my co-author's dad.

This is probably the only chapter where Peggy's mother appears. I'm planning a scene where the Mask plays pranks on Richard, you know, like a payback or something.

And how Stanley said ("And when we noticed, I was already proposing to her") is sort of a lie. There's no way he's going to say the real reason he's marrying Peggy. Talking about her, I recently saw the movie and I noted she (her movie counterpart) had something for Stanley, so there it is.

As I said before, I'm giving the fanfic mature tones, but I'll make sure the next chapters will be not that mature like in the first two and a half chapters.

And if I f-ed up your childhood then I'm sorry. That was not my intention.

Please review! I want to know what you think!

And if I had grammar mistakes, then I'm sorry!


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter VII: Sweet Payback served Cold

It's been a couple of hours since the incident.

They're at Stanley's apartment, watching TV in bed. Peggy is resting her head in Stanley's chest, still, like her partner, trying to forget about Richard's actions.

She's been sort of rejected by her parents all her life. Her father is a strict, strong, and intimidating man. He doesn't treat females like they deserve, since he's a sexist. Her mother, who forcefully wed Richard, is the typical wife "who always agrees with whatever her husband says, thinks, and proposes, among other stuff" and forced to live a life behind Richard's shadow (she got used to, anyways). Richard always taught his children everybody, especially females, were just a bunch of bastards destined to nothingness.

When Peggy was born, Richard deemed her as useless because of her gender and got frustrated and disappointed with Lillian for not giving birth to another male. He was about to do what a great part of male sexists do: kill the unworthy one. However, something stopped him and instead, cruelly raised her harder than any other sexist would have just to teach his wife a 'lesson', who could do nothing but watch. She was rarely motherly to her daughter, since Richard told her not to let her feel loved but miserable. When her parents were out, her older brothers taught her not all males in the world were as tyrants or worse like their father and that they'll always be with her.

Elliot is the smart one of all three. He graduated with honours and not long later left his parents' house, much to his relief. He insisted to his parents he wanted to take his younger siblings with him, however, it was of no use, and, disappointed, left alone.

Tobey is the caring one. Like any lovable parent, or sibling in this case, would do, he'd always put his young sister first than him. He'd take her to the park or some fun place at their parent's back. He also graduated with honours and was forbidden to leave the house.

When the red-haired reporter was a young teen, she started to hang out with some guy (eight years older than her) named Eugene Rapaz, an astute science-and-knowledge lover of British origin who turned out to be one of Elliot's close/childhood friends. She felt different around him. She laughed, she smiled, and the most important, she felt loved. Sometimes they sneaked off together at night. She started to fall in love with him. However, three years later, Tobey found out and told her to stop seeing him, since he was nothing but problems. She didn't believe him.

That night, Eugene and Peggy hanged out again. This time, he was serious, and told her to stay back and hide while he finished a pending business. She hid and was able to hear and partially see what was going on. A lot of guys, sort of dressed like him, appeared out of nowhere and another bunch of guys, who were wearing leather, showed themselves from the dark parts of the streets. It turned out the guy she fell in love with was a member and boss of a drug-dealing street gang that was about to kill a long-time rival gang.

They started to fight and tried to leave, but she made noise. She made her way between the thrash cans on the alley. Suddenly, she felt someone grabbing her and covering her mouth with its hand. The gangs decided it was some stupid rat and continued massacring each other. Peggy and the mysterious person left, with her protesting and kicking and fighting for her life. Both made it to the other end of the alley, where the city lights were abundant. The mysterious individual revealed itself to be Tobey.

He told her he followed them when he heard a motorbike near the house and, undoubtedly, it was Eugene waiting for her. She kept saying she was sorry for biting and kicking him and he replied it was okay, since she was defending herself. They returned in silence to the house and their parents never found out.

That night was the last time she saw Eugene Rapaz.

When she hit her 18th birthday, she was kicked off of the house by her parents. She ran to her older brother, who, joyfully, accepted her in his house. She was lucky Tobey was sending her her stuff from their parents' house. Among all those things, Peggy found an old notepad she thought it was lost forever. She remembered she wanted to be a reporter or something like that, perhaps a private detective. Elliot motivated her to follow her dreams, even if their parents said there were full of bullcrap. He paid her school, some supplies, and also helped her to get a job in the Evening Star, due to him having good contacts.

She lived with Elliot around 5 years and moved to an apartment not so far from there.

Like the stubborn female she used to be, she started to hang out with a reporter named Christopher Kent. He was responsible and always handed the best articles ever and was the only one who was able to get detailed stories about the mobs around Edge City by that time.

Not even a year passed and she found out why Christopher always handed the best work ever: he had ties with the mob and was secretly selling them government secrets. She decided to leave him because of it. Chris didn't give a damn, since he saw her as filthy, anyways. No one heard about him again a month later after this.

Peggy thought she'd never love a man who wasn't hiding some kind of secrets. Until she met Stanley Ipkiss at the Edge City Bank.

It first started as a proper informant-reporter relationship as said before, then, they started to hang out as friends. One thing leaded to another. She started to develop a special liking to him, not only because he was a real gentleman, because he treated her like she deserved, similar to Eugene to her when she was a teen. However, unlike him and Christopher, Stanley was not involved with mobs, drug-dealers, and/or gangs.

Sure, she sometimes uses him for her benefits, but also, she has saved him a number of times, reinforcing their relation, adding of course he's the first man whom she consummated their friendship that stormy night in her apartment, next day during the shower, and the day after that in his apartment.

Now, Stanley, who is wearing brown pyjamas and putting an arm around Peggy, looks better. He is keeping it cool and relaxing at the same time. It seems the bath was something he needed to relieve himself. He never thought to hear again people making fun of his last name. He seems he's trying to forget about it. Ironically, that moment is replaying one more time in his head.

_"You're marrying him? He's a wimp whose bones I can crush with my bare hands in a second or less." He keeps making fun of his daughter's future husband_

_"Richard, I think you really need to stop." His wife ordered_

_"Come on, woman." He responds. "Would you let your daughter to marry a wimpy man like him? I mean, look at that guy, I bet he has money problems. I also bet he has a crappy car."_

_"Dad!" Peggy snaps his attention_

_"I forbid you to marry him, Peg." Her father said as he stops making fun of Stanley, who is hiding his face with his hands. "I won't let you to get a lot of debts and misery."_

_"Dad, I love him." She said_

_"Then stop loving him and forget about Steven." Richard ordered._

_"It's Stanley!" she corrects him_

_"Whatever. I don't care and I don't give a damn. I don't want to see him again. And that's final." Richard roars_

Stanley recalls Peggy told her father she loved him. However, since their plan involved pretending they're in love, he's not sure if that was part of the plan or she really loves him. Wanting to know the truth, he asks her.

"Peggy, may I ask you something?" he asks

"Sure, what is it?" she replies

"Do you love me?"

"Of course I do. We're friends."

"Not like that. Love like... you know… being in love with me." He tries to make himself clear

"I'm not sure. Why?"

"Back at your parents' house… you said you loved me."

"I thought that was part of the plan. Pretending we were deeply in love with each other."

"Well, yes. That's the plan, but…"

"Maybe I believed my own lie, since I was trying to defend us both."

"I think you're right. Besides, if I didn't care, I wouldn't have helped you with this and would have let you to have the…" he gulps. "…termination."

"I don't want to kill this baby. Not anymore."

Stanley smiles and puts one of his hands above her abdomen.

"Nothing's going to happen to him or her." He said.

"This baby is not going to meet its maternal grandparents." She said as she puts a hand over Stanley's. "After all, my dad's a dick."

Stanley snickers.

"It's funny because… your dad's name's Richard, right? And 'Dick' is a nickname for people with that name."

Peggy laughs.

"When we were children, my brothers called him 'Dick' in his back." Peggy said. "I never realized they were actually insulting him until I grew up."

"It must suck to be a Richard."

"Maybe if our child gets to meet my father at least, he or she might end calling him 'Grandpa Dick'."

Stanley starts to laugh at this.

"After all, he's a real dick."

They continue laughing until fifteen minutes later. They start to talk about their families. Peggy is admired Stanley's family accepted her immediately, while her family, or a great part of them, did otherwise. The male said to her he wishes to meet her brothers. He met Elliot at least, and wanted also to meet Tobey.

From what she said, Stanley knows they might accept him unlike her parents.

Their talk progresses and they start to cuddle, quietly and carefully.

Suddenly, they fall asleep.

_The next day…_

Stanley is feeling he needs to teach Richard a lesson. But he's not the adequate for that task. Luckily for him, he's good pals with the clerk who manages the information of the accounts, and Peggy's father has his bank account there. His revenge has nothing to do with the money, since he's not that evil.

"What exactly do you want to do with this guy?" Chase Matthews, 39, asked

"It's sort of… you know… a direct man-to-man talk." He replies

"I think I got your point, Stanley. But…" Chase continues. "…try to be careful. I heard this guy is nothing but problems. Have you seen his budget? I've known better carpenters than him."

"I'll keep that in mind, Chase." Stanley replies as he finishes writing down the address. "Thanks again."

"Anytime, pal."

Stanley leaves to his desk while Chase still looks at him.

"He's dead meat." He mutters under his breathe.

The Bank finally closes and the employees start to retire to their respective houses. Stanley, on the other hand, starts to search where Richard works.

He finally finds the place like a half an hour later.

He sighs and motivates himself he's not doing this because of revenge. He's going to do it to avenge his best female friend. The 32-year-old takes the wooden mask off his blazer and talks directly to it.

"Listen to me, pal." He said. "I know you just want to have fun and stuff before playing the hero. But please, you have to deal with Richard Brandt. Teach him a lesson, but don't harm him… well, just a bit, but don't exceed the limits, understand? Oh, and after you finish, you can have all the fun you want."

He puts the mask and starts to spin and stops until he's fully transformed into the green-headed maniac (almost) everyone loves.

"Sssmokkinnn'" the Mask said and then he remembers what Stanley ordered him. "Oh, right I'll… but first!"

The Mask leaves to the Coco Bongo with his car, which, at a second, transformed into some fancy limousine.

_9:30 p.m._

The Mask had a lot of fun dancing, drinking, and even hitting on some candent babes at the Coco Bongo. When he arrived, he completely forgot about what Stanley told him. Like 10 minutes ago, he remembered and left quickly to return to where Peggy's father is.

He's still there, cleaning and getting ready to leave.

Richard's a carpenter. He considers it the only 'manly' job the city has, since he thinks businessmen are just _kitty cats._ The lights go out and he starts to curse. Suddenly, a shadowy figure appears behind him. It has the form of a very well-known superhero.

"Batman?" Richard asks. "I thought you were fictional."

"Batman is fictional, that's the joke." The shadowy figure said.

The lights returned and the shadow is revealed to be the Mask wearing a crappy Batman suit.

"Who the hell are you?" Mr. Brandt asks as he takes a gun out of nowhere

"Your worst nightmare!" he replies as he transforms into a million of green bats.

Those green winged rodents surround Richard as he starts to shoot his gun at random bats, of course, failing.

Suddenly, he is out of ammo.

"You never got tired firing your big gun, do ya?" a Mask bat asked

"I wonder what Dr. Freud would say about that." Another Mask bat said

"What the hell do you want?" Richard asks, a bit frightened.

The green bats start to spin until they start to fusion into one giant tornado. It's so strong it lifts the heaviest things a carpenter can have.

The lights start to flicker as the tornado is spinning and then the power goes out.

One minute later, the lights return and Richard appears he's a bit scared. He takes a couple of bullets from a drawer and charges his gun. The Mask is nowhere to be seen. He starts to search it, until a wacky voice says: _Give up, nimrod! You can't hope to nab me! Ha ha ha!_

He recognizes the voice and gets in guard.

"When I'm here…" the Mask said from an unknown location. "…I'm there!" he appears out of nowhere and sprays Richard with cold water.

Richard turns and sees the green-headed maniac is not there.

"When I'm upstairs… I'm downstairs!" The Mask said as he covered Peggy's father with white glue. "When I'm in front… I'm in the back!" he continued as he covered him with chicken feathers. "When I'm laughing… YOU'RE SCARED!" he said as he starts to distort the reality to freak Richard out, which ultimately happens.

He's so freaked out he hides in a corner and the Mask spins until he's Marilyn Monroe.

"Well, well, well…" he says imitating Marilyn and approaches to a scared Richard. "It seems that's it, mister." He pokes his nose. "Mess with someone else one more time and you'll get worse things than today." He said as he is melting and his voice is getting darker and stronger.

Richard leaves scared and runs away. Marilyn Mask returns to her form and waves him.

"I hope we can date or something next time we see each other, honeypuff!" the Mask said with Marilyn's voice

Suddenly he starts to spin until he's back with his classic attire.

"Hmmm… I think 'traumatize and scare the hell off him' was not what Stanley wanted, but who cares? I did my job, avenged someone, and I'll celebrate it at the Coco Bongo. YEEEHAAAWWW!"

The Mask spins until he's dressed in the 'Cuban Pete' attire.

"Let's turn the party on!" he said as he moves his maracas. "BOOYAAH!"

He spins directly to the Coco Bongo to reward himself.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxx

Revenge is sweet, huh?

I completely did by myself the Mask part. My co-author liked it! (S)he said it's a bit creepy, but that's the joke!

We worked a lot on Peg's background and we are a bit satisfied. Hope you liked it.

And if I f-ed up your childhood then I'm sorry. That was not my intention.

Please review! I want to know what you think!

And if I had grammar mistakes, then I'm sorry!


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: First of all, I'm sorry for the 'forced' delay of this chapter. My co-author's grandmother passed away and (s)he decided to take a little rest to show how (s)he supports her family. Something ironic here, our classmates scheduled a Christmas party last December 6. I sent a mail to all our classmates and they appeared to understand why we weren't going to the party.

Anyways, here's the chapter.

Enjoy!

Chapter VIII: Engagement Ring

Meanwhile, at the Edge City Police Depot, or ECPD for short, Lt. Kellaway is writing some stuff down, like a plan to finally capture the Mask. Suddenly, a fellow officer arrives.

"Lt. Kellaway, there's someone who wants to report an attack." The officer said

"Did it say what kind of attack?"

"He said you might not believe it."

"Send him in."

The officer leaves and sends the man in. It's Richard. He looks a bit less scared than earlier. He still has a few chicken feathers attached to his clothes.

"What's the problem, mister?" the Lieutenant asks.

"You might not believe it." Richard said. "I was attacked by a weird looking guy with a big, green head and…"

"You said _green head_?"

"Y-yes I did."

"Does that green-headed maniac look something like that?" he asks as he points to a dartboard with a photo of the Mask in the centre of it.

"Yes! That's him!" Richard recognizes it

"Say no more, I will hunt down the Mask wherever he goes." He said and continues. "What was the last time you saw him?"

"At a wooden shop not far from here." He replies

"Alright." He turns his head to Doyle. "Doyle, we have a Mask situation. Let's go!"

He said and everyone leaves to the wooden shop.

They finally arrive and see the disaster the Mask left when scaring the Hell out of Richard.

"Can you repeat what that green maniac did to you?" Lt. Kellaway asks

"He transformed into some creepy bats while dressed as a crappy Batman and then he covered me with freaking cold water, then sticky glue, and finally he covered me with stupid feathers to end like an efin' chicken! Oh, and he also transformed into Marilyn Monroe!"

"Hm. I heard enough." The lieutenant said. "Doyle! Can you tell me the code for 'individual dressed in a crappy Batman suit disturbing the peace? The Mask is so busted!"

"Are you sure the Mask is behind this, Lieutenant?" the chubby detective asks. "I mean, we haven't seen him in a while."

"Doyle!"

"Plus, there's no code for the 'individual dressed in a crappy Batman suit disturbing the peace'." Detective Doyle continues

Lt. Kellaway facepalms as he growls.

"Don't worry, mister." The angry lieutenant said to Mr. Brandt. "We'll catch that green menace, dead or alive."

_The next day…_

The sun is rising.

Stanley is lying in his bed, tired. It appears the Mask was partying all night. He's snoring and sleeping peacefully.

The alarm starts to sound and he wakes up immediately, with the wooden relic in his hand.

"My head…" he said as he buries his head in his hands. "I should give limits to the Mask."

Stanley turns off the alarm and suddenly, storms into the bathroom.

He starts to puke.

"Forget the should." He said and continues puking. "I must give limits to the Mask." And again, he starts to puke. "Man, I think this is how Peggy must feel when she has morning sickness…" he continues puking.

After he finishes, he glances at some golden-coloured trophy near one of the drawers. It clearly says "1st Place in the daily midnight beerfest". He groans and goes to bath himself.

Fifteen minutes later, he finishes with his bath and gets dressed. The 32-year-old takes the wooden mask and tries to get serious.

"Look, Mask…" he said. "I know I said to you you can party all you want, but seriously, I never told you to drink heavily. Please do not do that again." He said and then he puts it away inside his blazer and leaves.

What he doesn't know is that he's being observed by Lt. Kellaway, who is being accompanied by Detective Doyle, who looks bored and not convinced Stanley is the Mask. They're seeing he's opening his car.

"Lieutenant, what makes you think Mr. Ipkiss is the Mask?" Doyle asks

"For the last time, Doyle." He replies. "Wouldn't you have hard feelings too if you are forced to do double shifts in street patrol for less pay?"

"You're still mad about Ipkiss, aren't you?"

Doyle should have never asked that.

Mitch Kellaway starts to growl like a Doberman ready to attack its enemy.

"Lieutenant?" he asks again

"Ipkiss nearly ruined my career, Delbert. I have arrested every single criminal I crossed paths with. I thought Stanley Ipkiss was no different. He was way too easy for me to take down. I nearly had him in the electric chair."

"Mitch…"

"Let me finish! Look at the big picture, Doyle. The evidence is clear as air. Ipkiss lives at the same building where The Mask was first sighted. He goes to the same mechanics that were attacked by Mask. Mask robbed Ipkiss' bank. That overgrown man-child _even_ pulled a gun on me at the station!"

The Lieutenant then takes a small, black box and opens it, to reveal a piece of sailor wheel-pattered pyjamas.

"You see that, Doyle?" Lt. Kellaway asks to the Detective. "This cloth is a piece of Ipkiss' pyjamas. I found it at the Coco Bongo club after we arrested Dorian and company. Only Ipkiss has the enough balls to wear this piece of crap." He continues. "I wouldn't be surprised if Ipkiss actually murdered Tyrell, chopped his body, and threw it to the ocean, you know, like that mysterious murderer everyone dubs 'The Gulf Slasher'. I might not be amazed if Stanley is that serial killer. I swear, Doyle. If that smiling green freakazoid shows up and when the opportunity is right, I'll behead Ipkiss myself, with my bare hands."

Doyle nods until he sees the side mirrors. It appears Stanley finally managed to make his crappy car to work, since he nor his car are nowhere to be seen.

"Lieutenant…" Doyle tries to snap Mitch's attention.

"Also, why would the Mask attack a carpenter?"

"Lieutenant…"

"Maybe the Mask is working for the mob and Mr. Brandt owes them 'big piles of money'."

"Lieutenant…"

"Or maybe it's a…"

"Lieutenant, Mr. Ipkiss is no longer there." The chubby detective said

Mitch turns his head and realizes his partner's right.

"Doyle!" Mitch Kellaway exclaims in full rage

Meanwhile, Stanley has already arrived to the Bank. He's not looking for Charlie, that's for sure. After a while, Chase arrives with his suitcase. The brown-haired male spots him and goes towards him.

"Hey, Chase." Stanley greets him

"Hey, Stanley!" Chase replied. "I see you're in one piece. Did the talk with Mr. Brandt went well?"

"Ehh… kind of. I don't want to talk about it."

"Okay, then. Is there something I can do for you, pal?"

"Uhm no, well yes…" Stanley said as Chase raises an eyebrow. "You're a married man, right?"

"That's true. May I ask why are you asking me that?"

"I want to buy an engagement ring and I need the aid of someone who knows about these things."

"Oh, sure. At what time?"

"What about lunch time?"

"Sounds fine for me. I have to go to my desk. I don't want Dickey to tell me I'm late for the first twelve years. See you later!" Chase said as he leaves

Stanley relieves. He doesn't want to comment it to Charlie, since he'll be bugging and making fun of him for the rest of his life because he didn't use protection when he did it. He knows he can trust Chase. After all, he was the one who helped him to forget Tina.

Chase Matthews is a 39-year-old man and the kind of loyal friend one could desire. He's married and the father of twin girls.

The day Tina broke up with Stanley, Chase was one of the many people who were looking at them and the only one who made him feel better. Charlie, before Mr. Matthews approached Mr. Ipkiss, told him Tina was just a 'hormonally insane vixen' and that he deserved better. Of course that wasn't helpful at all.

When Mr. Matthews finally approached him, he talked with him stuff about relations and women and how to know if they're really for them or they're just playing with their emotions. He also added that, even the females whom males consider just friends can be their real 'other halves'. Those arguments that lasted around 3 hours made him feel as good as new. The next step was getting rid of whatever Tina gave him. That was easy. Stanley just got rid of the plastic flowers he didn't like and the newspaper cuts featuring her pictures. Once he finished, he felt better than ever and was ready to search or wait for another one.

Now, some hours later, Chase and Stanley are leaving to a Jewellery just two blocks away from the bank.

They finally enter.

"Wow, I haven't been here since I bought white-gold collars for my girls." Chase said and turns his head to Stanley. "Well, buddy. Let's go to see the rings."

They go to the rings section. Stanley spots one he likes.

"Chase, what about that?" Stanley points to it

Mr. Matthews glances to the ring. His expression suddenly changes to an awkward one.

"Stanley," Chase said in a low voice. "Is your girlfriend _pregnant_?"

"Y-Not yet." He lies and then keeps looking at the rings. "What about that?" he points to another one.

"What was her age, again? 60?" Chase wonders

"Well… she's well… let's leave that for another day. But she's old enough to marry someone."

"I see. What if I chose the ring? It seems you're having trouble with it."

"Sounds fine for me."

Chase glances quickly each ring. Like a minute or two later, he chooses one.

"Try with that one, Stanley. She'll like it. Trust me." Chase said

Mr. Ipkiss calls the jeweller and buys the ring.

They leave the place and return to the bank.

Hours later, their daily work finishes and the employees are leaving the bank. Chase and Stanley are leaving the building together.

"If everything results fine, Stanley, please tell me." Chase said. "Remember you gave me the note and the jeweller said it's fine to change it if your girlfriend doesn't like it."

"Thanks, Chase. I'll see you later." Stanley said and left

Both leave to their respective cars and leave.

_I just hope she's in the mood for this... and I hope this turns as planned._ The brown-haired man said in his thoughts as he's heading to the Evening Star.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxx

There it is, pals!

Oh, and yes! We decided to give the name 'Delbert' to our favourite chubby detective, Doyle :D Sounds fine, right? Delbert Doyle xD

Just a little reminder, I'll be giving this fanfic some mature tones, like treating real-life issues, you know, stuff that was considered a taboo in the TV, specially cartoons, during the 90s and earlier.

And if I f-ed up your childhood then I'm sorry. That was not my intention.

Please review! I want to know what you think!

And if I had grammar mistakes, then I'm sorry!


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter IX: Do the Right Thing

Stanley arrives to the Evening Star at the same time Peggy's leaving the building. She spots her friend and she gets in the car.

"Thanks for giving me a ride." She said.

"You're welcome, Peg." He replies

After some minutes, they finally arrive to the building.

Stanley sighs and, with confidence, breaks the silence between them.

"Hey, do you have any plans for tonight?" he asks

"Not really. Why are you asking?" she replies as she's getting out of the car.

"Well… I… nothing. There's something I want to show you."

"What is it?"

"It has to be at the park."

"Let me guess… is it another marriage proposition?"

"Uhm, kind of."

"Okay then. Thanks for the ride."

"Anytime, Peg."

"See you later." She said as she closed the door and left.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Night arrives and the two friends are at the Peninsula Park.

While they are walking, Stanley's remembering what Chase told him what to do a couple of hours earlier during a telephone call.

Peggy is not aware of what's really going on. She's not sure what her friend planned or wants to show her.

"Here we are." He said

They're at the peak of the park. It's a beautiful view. The lights, the colours the methane emissions pick up, the cold, light wind, even the grass. It appears it was recently watered.

"Stanley, what is it?" she asks "What I'm supposed to see or know?"

The male deeply sighs and stays quiet for a moment.

"My life has always felt… like an unanswered question, leaving me waiting for something to happen. I didn't know what." He said, not looking to her

_Why is he acting so weird?_ She wonders.

"Peggy, we're connected." He said. "Wherever I am, I feel you."

It's official. She wants to burst out laughing so bad.

"Your love makes me real." He continues with his corny speech. "I don't want to lose you, nor our future child." He clears his throat. "And that's why I know I want to marry you, Peggy Brandt."

She can't take it no more. She starts to snicker, discretely.

He continues, even when he's pretty unaware she thinks what he's saying is ridiculous.

"Because something as simple as sharing a few minutes with you is a highlight to my day." Stanley said and then takes her hand as he gets on his knees. "You're the only woman who has stayed with me a long time. One who doesn't tell me to get a life, to mature, or to be the man I'm supposed to be for her. And, as I said before, when I happen to get a girlfriend, or wife, I'll always do, even the impossible, to make sure she's safe." He then searches the engagement ring in his pocket. "Peggy Brandt, will you have the honour to be my wife?"

She bursts out laughing.

_Crap._ Stanley thought.

"Stanley, who wrote that material of yours," she asks, still laughing. "Milo?"

"Uhm… I read some novels at the library and I thought those could be a perfect base to this." He lied. "I've never done this before."

"It's alright, don't worry." She said, more calmed. "And say no more, please. I don't want to end laughing all night." She lowers until she's eye-to-eye with him. "My answer is yes."

Stanley eventually puts the ring through her finger and together they share a romantic kiss, which lasts around 10 minutes.

Xxxxxxxx

The next day, at the Evening Star, the red-haired female reporter's workmates noted she was using an engagement ring. It appears she forgot to remove it earlier and she's unaware she's wearing it.

"So, Peggy." Linda, one of her friends, said while approaching her. "Who's the lucky guy?"

"Excuse me?" she asks

"Is that an engagement ring?" she asks again

Peggy glances at her hands and realizes she forgot to remove it. She has no option, but to tell the truth.

"Uhm, yes it is." She said. "I'm marrying soon."

The other reporters approached her with curiosity, specially the females.

"Why didn't you told us about?" one of them asked

"Because I didn't feel like telling everyone." Peggy replied. "I'd have felt I should say everything about him."

"Is he cute?" a female asked

"Is he good-looking?" another asked

They start to make a lot of questions.

"Look, I know you want to meet him, but believe me, you already know him." She replied, hoping not to get more questions.

"We've seen you with a lot of men, Peg." Ryan, one of the male reporters, said. "Can't you give us a clue?"

"It's all I can say, guys." She replied, trying to go to her desk. "You already know him."

She manages to continue working in peace. Her workmates retired to their respective desks.

_Maybe letting them to know I'm engaged was the correct thing._ She thought.

After all, it was just a matter of time for her baby bump to start to show up. She starts to think, while typing some notes and adding some details and exaggerating a few, what would have happened if she maintained it a secret.

The world of journalism is full of rumours and lies. Many reporters prefer to do the wrong thing to get a high reputation, especially females. She has heard stories from her friends about journalists who were classified as 'female dogs' due to them sleeping with their sources (some of them already married) just to get a story that might end as the best one ever, which is kind of ironic.

Stanley is her source for the Mask stories; however, he's still single and she didn't sleep with him because of wanting a story. She did it because of two reasons: one, she seduced, influenced, and convinced him, and two, because of the moment and what he said. There is probably a third reason, which could be she's in love with him and wanted to do it with him.

The first time they met was because of her job. She wanted to get better details for the story about the Ripley's Auto Finishing attack, and she, like any amateur reporter, knew the last person who made contact with the victim, or victims in this case, might provide the 90% of the information that could lead to the attacker. This led her to sneak quietly to the building and checked the papers that were around or she could-

"Hey Peggy, how are you feeling?" Ramses, or Ramsey as he's called by everyone, asked her, snapping her from her thoughts.

"Oh… I'm… I'm fine." She replied, recovering after the mini-heart attack. "Thanks."

"I'm sorry I couldn't see you days ago." He said. "I had to leave to a business trip at Centreville that day Murray told me you were barfing every five minutes and I returned yesterday night." He chuckles a bit. "I just wanted to make sure you were fine. And be careful with the caffeine next time you're stressed. Your sickness could be worse." He said as he left

It seems Murray believed her morning sickness was caused by stress and caffeine excess.

Xxxxx

After the working hours were finally over, Stanley and Peggy reunite in the latter's apartment and start to make a list of their respective family members to invite to their wedding.

Stanley finished his list, which consisted with his mother, sister and children, and five cousins. Peggy just had her two brothers in it. Suddenly, because she also wanted to invite her workmates, she comes up with an idea.

"I think we can invite friends to our wedding." Peggy proposes

"Are you sure?" Stanley asks. "I thought it was going to be family exclusive."

"From all my family, just my two brothers are assisting, while in yours, almost all of them."

"Well, I was not aware of that. Go ahead, invite some friends of yours."

"Cool. And to let it fair, you can invite a few friends too."

"Really?"

"Of course."

This relieves him, because he was planning to invite Chase and tell her he's one of his cousins.

"May I ask why?" he asks

"Well, you know I won't be this thin for longer." She replies. "And when a female, single reporter is suddenly showing signs of being pregnant…" she doesn't know how to continue.

"It's okay, Peg." He replied. "I understand. It's like the same with me and Charlie. He'll be making fun of me the rest of my life because I didn't use a… you know..."

She chuckles.

"Maybe it's fine to everyone to know we're engaged, anyways." She said. "But that doesn't mean I'm going to tell them I'm with child."

He giggles and leans forward to kiss her cheek at the same time he cover her with his arms.

He starts to like it, even when they pushed their relation to the next level. Maybe he's developing some feeling for her as hers are getting fully developed.

"Careful, tiger." She said. "I already have one."

Stanley chuckles and moves himself closer to the red-haired reporter, puts an arm around her and rubs her shoulder.

Xxxxxxxxxx

Two days later, the invitations were ready to be delivered.

It's lunch time.

During lunch time at the bank, Stanley already gave the invitations to some of his co-workers, with Chase being the first one. He asked him how the things went. The shy bank clerk replied it went better than he expected and asked him why she laughed at his proposal speech. Mr. Matthews told him a woman prefers a man who can make her laugh and it's easier for her to accept the proposal if this makes her laugh.

Mr. Ipkiss now has an invitation left and he's approaching to Charlie, who's checking some documents in his desk using a magnifier glass while standing up.

"Hey Charlie, can I talk with you?" Stanley asks

"If it's about a rise in the salary…" Charlie said as he left the documents and magnifier glass.

"No, it has nothing to do with that." He clears his throat. "I'm marrying soon."

Charlie couldn't resist. He laughed.

"Good joke, Stanley." The chubby man said. "Really, what do you wanted to tell me?"

"It's for real, Charlie. I'm marrying next week."

"And who's the lucky girl?" Mr. Schumacher wonders. "Is it the same chick you…" he starts to pantomime thrusting, standing-up sex.

"Charlie!"

"What?" he stops mimicking that

"I'll pretend I didn't see that." He sighs and then takes out a white invitation off his blazer. "Here's the invitation. I'll see you there." He gives him the invitation and leaves.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxx

There it is, pals!

Sorry it took long. I gave my co-author my laptop so (s)he could fix it. And now it's as fast as new. I also told her/him to make a backup of all my data, you know, in case my laptop decides to be a troll and deletes 180GB of my life XDD.

Next chapter will be posted probably this Friday. *dun Dun DUN*

Just a little reminder, I'll be giving this fanfic some mature tones, like treating real-life issues, you know, stuff that was considered a taboo in the TV, specially cartoons, during the 90s and earlier.

And if I f-ed up your childhood then I'm sorry. That was not my intention.

Please review! I want to know what you think!

And if I had grammar mistakes, then I'm sorry!


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter X: Do you take Stanley Ipkiss…?

As soon as Stanley leaves, Charlie opens the invitation and reads it. He smiles a bit.

"I knew there was something between those two." He chuckles and then notes a small, handwritten note attached to it.

It clearly reads: _"Would you like to be my best man?"_

He chuckles one more time and nods.

-xxx-

It's around five o'clock.

Stanley and Peggy, along with the latter's two big brothers, are in a small café, drinking hot cappuccino.

They're talking as Elliot and Tobey are properly meeting their sister's fiancée. The black-haired man seems to have already accepted it, since they're almost the same age and still watch cartoons. Unlike Stanley, Tobey keeps it a secret because his father keeps telling him animated stuff are for losers.

The blond-haired man examines him. He's aware of Peggy's bad taste for men. Tobey told him about her romance relationship with Eugene a while later after both siblings escaped from the alley that night and found about Christopher because she told him.

Elliot examines him once more. How he talks, his facial expressions, everything, is telling him he really loves his sister. But that doesn't mean he won't be keeping an eye on Stanley. There's something he doesn't like about him. He perceives he's hiding a thing. Or two. Thanks to the good moment he's having with him and his siblings, adding also he's also thinking on the topics he's going to teach to his students, he appears to not mind about it.

-xxx-

It's the night before the wedding.

Stanley and Peggy are having their respective bachelor party.

The 32-year-old male doesn't seem to like it. Not because he's missing the long-awaited-midnight-cartoon marathon. His friends, especially Charlie, are talking about hiring some strippers. The guys are at some fancy bar, by the way.

"Come on, Stanley." Charlie said while smoking a cigarette. "Be a man."

"I'm already a man, Charlie." He replied. "It's just I don't like this stuff."

"Oh, come on, pal!" Mr. Dickey, Jr. said. "It'll be just a chick or two. Peg won't find out."

"Seriously, I think I'd prefer to be at my house." He replies

"You're being such a girl, did you knew that?" he asks

"Look, I don't like to drink or to watch 'porn stuff'."Stanley replies

"What about animated porn?" one of his co-workers asks

"Guys, I'm supposed to enjoy this day, not to get creeped out by you." The man shudders

"Stanley, that's why almost nobody likes to hang out with you," Another of his co-workers said. "You're no fun."

"Boys, boys." Charlie said. "If he doesn't like it, we can't force him, right my man?"

The chubby man waits for an answer, but nothing.

"Stanley?" Charlie turns his head to Stanley's seat.

He left while his friend was talking.

In the meanwhile, Peggy was at her apartment with her female friends. Unlike Stanley's bachelor party, this one is a bit groovy. The girls are being kind-of perverts, giving the red-headed reporter some naughty and provocative gifts, like a baby doll and some sex toys.

They suddenly start to ask her if she managed to see Stan's male-exclusive part in all its glory. She lies and, fortunately, they believe her. However, they tell her to tell them when she gets to see it.

Man, they're equal or worse than the guys.

Her bachelor party can be compared to a slumber party full of pervert girls.

At least Peggy enjoys this.

Stanley, on the other hand, left to his apartment, turned off the lights, took the TV to the bathroom and watched the rest of the cartoon marathon there.

-xxx-

The big day finally arrives.

The room's simple, pretty decorated. Nothing overly expensive or ornate, just... warm, reflecting the groom's personality. Stanley and Peggy, who are a bit nervous, stand at the altar. Charlie is standing next to his friend while Elliot next to his sister.

The guests are sitting white chairs: in one side, the groom's family and friends, in another, the bride's, with the exception of her parents. Among the guests are Dr. Arthur Neumann, Edward Nygma, a friend of Tobey who's crazy for riddles and puzzles, Fletcher Reede, a lawyer who's Stanley's cousin, Chase Matthews and Carl Allen, two of the groom's co-workers, Truman Burbank, a paranoiac who is one of Elliot's friends and patients, Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunne, and, for some reason, Ace Ventura, who is probably the world's only pet detective, and Spike, the latter's pet monkey. Even Milo's there, wearing a bowtie. He's trying to chew it off.

Peggy has already placed the ring on his finger and is finishing her vows. Then, Stanley's turn arrives. He takes a ring from Elliot and slips it onto Peggy's finger at the same time he's saying his vow. What he said it's the pure truth, and she can see that. In response, she smiles and a few tears are forming in her eyes.

And then they finally kiss.

Milo looks away.

After they finish, both bride and groom step down from the altar and are surrounded by their families.

Later, at the reception, Peggy throws flower bouquet and women are trying to catch it. One the bride's female friends catch it. She glances at the nearest man she had around. Charlie smiles seductively and then, disgusted, she tosses the bouquet away.

"Hey everyone!" Tobey said with a microphone. "I'm so thrilled to introduce for their first dance as husband and wife… Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Ipkiss!

The band starts to play a waltz as Stanley leads Peggy onto the dance floor. He takes her hand, gingerly wrapping another around her waist. They begin to dance slowly. She

lovingly rests her head on his chest as they dance.

Suddenly, other couples start to flow onto the dance floor.

A long while later, Stanley separates from Peggy and takes his mother into his arms. Peggy goes to her older brother and dances with him. She then moves to Tobey and Stanley asks his sister to dance. Smiling, she joins him.

Overcome with emotion, Amanda pulls Stanley into a hug.

"I am so happy for you." She said. "I just wish Dad could be here."

"Well, I don't." he mutters

"What?"

"Oh, that's cool". He lies.

She snickers.

"Do you still hold a grudge against him, baby brother?" she asks

He doesn't answer.

"I'll take that as a 'yes'." She said

The relationship Stanley had with his father was lightly acceptable, but not a good one. He saw his son as an unexpected (and unwanted) surprise.

He died almost three years ago. The cause of death was a heart failure. That day, well, week, Stanley was in Florida attending to some conferences he was sent to. He received the notice after one of those finished. The brown-haired male felt indifferent. He didn't assist to the funeral, and he was glad he didn't. The man disliked the conferences, and he was thankful something he hated saved or prevented him to say the last goodbye to the only person he hated even more.

Stanley's father was strict towards his only son, and was soft with his daughter. That didn't mean he was not overprotective with her. Like his boy, he was a bank clerk, the manager, to be precise. Stanley, when he hit his 10th year, was inspired by him to work at a bank, thinking he'd gain finally his father's approval. He graduated with honours and some awards when he was a few weeks before turning 23. He got a job at the bank eventually. He was so happy he couldn't describe what he was feeling. He felt he was very close to make his father to be proud of him. Unfortunately, he saw him as a threat and enemy instead of feeling proud. He even called him something that should have never happened, in other words, an accident.

Mr. Dickey, Sr. was around when he heard that and fired the older male. Everybody, even some clients, heard everything.

His boss told Stanley take the rest of the week and to see a psychologist if necessary. It was Wednesday.

After he left, it started to rain.

He cried, letting disappointment, anger, sadness, shame, and more disappointment to leave in form of bitter tears that were pouring down his face. He didn't mind after all, since the rain was hiding them, and no one was able to tell he was crying. He was the red enough to fool the people to make them think he caught some awful cold.

The rain eventually transformed into a storm and he decided to run to his apartment, hoping Mrs. Peenman might make him forget that sour moment back at the bank.

He was about to cross the street, when he saw a small, fluffy, white ball in the middle of the road. Stanley went towards it and realized it was no sphere-shaped thing. It was a sick, newborn puppy. Female dogs, soon after they give birth, they test her puppies. When she finds a sick one, she kills it to end its suffering. It appears this baby dog's mother preferred a car to do her work instead.

Stanley removed his blazer and took the sick puppy with him before the racing trailers killed it.

He arrived to his apartment thirteen minutes later.

He considered himself lucky because it appeared Mrs. Peenman was not around.

Mr. Ipkiss examined the puppy and remembered one of his neighbours was a vet. He searched her and, when she found her, he told her to check it, because it seemed to be sick.

Four hours later, she arrived with the puppy, healthy as new.

The vet told him, as she handed him the baby dog, he was lucky to still find her because she was going to a field trip to Stark Town with her students in a few minutes.

The female vet left as Stanley was cradling the puppy.

He decided to keep it, since he was smiling and the small dog brought him some joy.

Stanley kept it warm in his bed and made a list of names.

For some reason today he still can't explain, he named him Milo.

"Stanley, are you hearing me?" Amanda said, snapping Stanley off the flashback.

"Huh? What?" he replies, dumbfounded

"Your wife is calling you." Amanda snickers a bit.

"Oh, right." He said. "Sorry, I just had uhm… I was just realizing I never… you know… I never thought I was going to be…" he sighs. "Never mind. I can't coordinate my words." He lowers his head. "Excuse me."

He goes to where his wife is and both start to talk about what comes next.

"We'll tell them at the beginning of your second month, right?"

"Yes." She replies and kisses her husband in the cheek. "Also, I don't want to use your last name."

Stanley understands. "Peggy Ipkiss" sounds so weird and it's something one could made fun of. This reminded him about the time when he wished to change his last name because he was sick and tired of everybody who made fun of his surname, and sometimes his name. He remembers one of his bullies asking him if his parents didn't love him because of his name. He wanted to change it to "Jim Paulsen" or something cooler. However, he realized there were going to be a lot of complications if he changed his name and thus, he decided to either not give a damn about or get used to the people making fun of him.

"It's a deal." He replies as he hugs his wife

"Hey guys, why are you far from the party?" Tobey asks while sipping a glass of wine.

"We're discussing about having kids sometime in the future." She lies

"Ho! That's great!" he said. "I believe you're going to be great parents."

"Thanks." Stanley replies. "By the way, why are you drinking a lot of wine? Isn't it hazardous for your health?"

"I told my parents I was going to a place where I can drink." He said as he sprinkles himself with the wine. "I need to be realistic. Also, this is the last glass I'm drinking today, or probably this month."

Peggy snickers.

"Oh well, at least I made my baby sister laugh. I'll be with Edward if you need me. Bye!" he said as he leaves.

"Your brother's a bit weird." Stanley comments

"You have no idea." She replies.

Everybody enjoy the rest of the party.

The first part of Stanley's and Peggy's plan is complete.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxx

There it is, pals!

Sorry for taking long.

I'm Liger Khan's co-author. He trusted me his password for this account, so this is probably the only chapter I'll be submitting myself.

First of all, I'm sorry this chapter sounded a bit (or too) adult. I've seen some TV sitcoms on YouTube about bachelor parties and this is what I had in mind.

Second, I'm going to unveil my identity.

I'm TigerBlack62. A user here. No way I was going to submit this fanfic. I have two reasons:

1.- Even if it was Liger's thank you gift for me, it's still his property (or half-property, since I insisted him to continue it and that I'll be helping him to finish this.)

2.- Ever read the first two-and-a-half chapters? My readers will be all "WTF is wrong with you? Why are you writing this naughty/porny stuff? (Remember I had nothing to do with Chapter I of this fanfic.)

BTW, Happy Mayan Doomsday day or whatever.

And for the folks who believed the End-of-the-World thingy, thanks for spending your money into Mexico. You helped my country to win some money!

Liger will be back this 26. He went to Guadalajara, Jalisco to visit his grandparents.

Just a little reminder, we'll be giving this fanfic some mature tones, like treating real-life issues, you know, stuff that was considered a taboo in the TV, specially cartoons, during the 90s and earlier.

And if we f-ed up your childhood then I'm sorry. That was not our intention.

Please review! We want to know what you think!

And if we had grammar mistakes, then we're sorry!


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter XI: Two months later

"Hey, Stanley." One of the guests approaches him. "I just wanted to congratulate you for this step you've taken." He then looks at Peggy and then looks back at him. "You two do a cute couple, by the way." He said as he sips the glass of beer.

"Thanks, Jim." Stanley replies

Peggy looks at the man again and then at her new husband.

"Are you two related?" she asks

"Oh." The man said. "No, we're just friends."

"Are you sure?" she asks again

"Yeah." He laughs. "You're like he fourth person today who asked me if Stanley and I are related. Believe me, I have no idea why we sort of look alike."

"Maybe it's a trick done by genetics." Stanley comments. "You know, there are people who have look-alikes and they're not related."

"Probably." Jim replies as he sips the glass again. "But well, it was nice to see you again, Stanley." He high-fives with him. "I have to go now; the director will kill me if I arrive late. See ya." He said as he leaves the glass in a table and leaves.

"Director?" she asks

"He's an actor." Stanley replies. "We met in High School. He was like the clown of the class." He giggles. "We found each other at the bank a little more than a year ago. The crew was filming some movie involving gangsters and crooks, I think. I never got to see it."

"Was it popular?"

"I believe. It boosted him to worldwide recognition."

"Wow. I mean, he decided to still be in contact with you after all this time."

"If it wasn't for me, he'd be stuck in High School. His grades were terrible."

She snickers.

-xxx-

The next night, they go to Stanley's apartment to revise the second part of their plan.

"Wow, I never thought this was going to be so exhausting." Stanley said

"Me neither." Peggy replies as she collapses to the bed. "This is going to take a lot of time."

"Just a few hours to meditate and revise what we've already planned."

"I meant the marriage."

"Oh, right." He said as he sits on the bed. "And I might end being asked if we're planning to have a baby."

"It's already on its way."

"But 'not yet', if you get what I mean."

She laughs a bit.

"We'll tell them a week after the beginning of my second month." She proposed. "It sounds better and not-so rushed, anyways."

"Oh well. Fine for me."

"That reminds me," he said. "Are we going to live separated or one would go to live with the other?"

"We have to figure out that soon. I think you could move into my apartment. Is a bit bigger than yours and my landlord is almost deaf. He won't really hear a thing when our baby starts to cry every night."

Stanley chuckles.

"Well, it's an option." Stanley said. "Mrs. Peenman will make our baby cry even more when she comes to yell at me to make it stop crying."

Peggy laughs.

"It would be a total nightmare." She said

He sighs and joins her in bed. Both start to cuddle. At the same time, there's a silence surrounding the apartment. It's almost 10:30 pm.

"You know," Peggy said. "During the first days, married couples do what they always wanted to do." She said with a seductive voice.

Stanley gets what she means.

"I know what you are talking about." He grins a bit and kisses her in the cheek. "What if we turn off the lights, stay in the bed and…"

"And?" she asks with a low voice

"…since both of us are responsible adults…we could…"

"Yes?"

"Watch R-Rated cartoons all night." He smiles

Peggy's expression suddenly turns into a 'Huh?' one.

A while later, they're watching some R-Rated cartoon. Stanley's laughing, trying to control himself, which he's almost successful.

"This is not_ exactly _what I meant." She said, still disappointed.

"What do you want to do instead of this?" Stanley asks her.

"Well… I wa-"

"Oh no!" Stanley said as he looks back to the TV. "They killed Kenny!"

_I wonder if this is the reason why Tina dumped him._ Peggy said in her mind as she crossed her arms. _I just wanted to cuddle more with him. And probably kissing. But not this!_

Well, she's right. That's one of the many reasons Tina decided to 'press the frappe button'.

The week after they kissed in the bridge, the club singer was trying a few tricks and saying innuendos just to get him in the bed. However, since he was more attached to the cartoons and was more 'innocent' due to the fact he never got an innuendo, she failed a lot. She almost succeeded once. She stripped him off his shirt and tie. He was also starting to experiment emotions and reactions he never felt before. Tina knew she was so close on finally doing it, having some (hardcore) action with him, until Stanley decided his bed was so perfectly comfy he wanted to sleep, angering her.

That happened one day before their break-up.

Peggy sees how Stanley starts to get a liking to mature-themed cartoons. Since he's her husband, she has no option, but to get used to him. He has to lay off cartoons sometime later, anyway.

The red-headed reporter sighs, still disappointed, one more time, and watches the rest of the cartoon with him.

-xxx-

It has been two months since Stanley and Peggy married.

She recently hit her third month.

They still live separated, however. But, on occasions, one would spend the night with the other.

Some days after Peggy hit her second month, she and her husband told the family there was a baby on the way. Everybody took it fine. They still couldn't believe it. It was sort of soon for them.

Rachel took it better than anyone. She said she will be jealous of her new cousin due to having the most awesome reporter in the 'universe' as a mother. She also added her baby brother would also have a new playmate.

Now, Stanley and Peggy are in Dr. Coulson's office.

He's arriving with some papers at the same time he's reading them.

"Well, Mr. Ipkiss… Ms. Brandt," the doctor said. "I have the results and let me tell you…" he creates suspense. "… Your baby's doing fine. Speaking of whom… would you like to know its gender?"

Stanley and Peggy look each other, then, they look directly to Dr. Coulson.

"I think it'd be better if we leave that as a surprise." Peggy replies

"Oh, well." The obstetric replies as he puts the papers inside a folder. "Going to another thing I want to mention you…" he continues

Dr. Coulson starts to explain a few points about the stuff that for now is important, such as taking a daily dose of folic acid and prenatal vitamin pills.

After 30 minutes of explanations, instructions, and tips, the doctor schedules the next appointment for the next month.

Stanley and Peggy are leaving the office, when suddenly the latter one realizes she forgot her purse. He tells her he'll wait in the car and both leave.

The female reporter enters to Dr. Coulson' office and sees he's not around. She approaches the seat and takes her purse. She glances to the desk and notes the folder containing the information about the baby is still there.

Taking this as an opportunity to know her baby's gender, she approaches the desk and takes it. She opens it and starts to search some clue words. Then, she finally finds it and smiles. She leaves the folder, closed, making sure it is in the same position it was before she took it.

She leaves as nothing.

Stanley's outside of the car, reading a comic from today's newspaper. He sees Peggy's approaching.

"Why did it take you so long?" he asks her

"Uh... I just got sort of worried. Part of my mood swings, I guess."

"Oh, well. Better leave to your apartment before you start to yell at me for no reason." he said.

They get into the car and leave.

After a couple of minutes, Peggy breaks the silence between both.

"So… what do you want it to be?" she asks

"What?" he replies with another question

"The baby." She clarified. "What do you want it to be? A boy or a girl?"

"A girl." Stanley smiles. "Definitely a girl."

It's odd for a future father to want its first child to be female. A lot of males make sure their wives are carrying a male. When they're born, some of them re-assign and decide to love their baby girl as much as they'll have loved a son. Other, however, decide to divorce because they think their woman is going to give them more girls in case both decide to have more children.

Stanley has at least six reasons to justify his choice: one, girls are way easier to control, two, they mature fast, three, they have a good memory, four, they get less ill than boys, five, girls are less bullied at schools, and six, he doesn't want the Ipkiss name to continue.

Peggy doesn't know how to react. She knows her baby's gender and doesn't even want to give her husband the most minimal clue. She smiles a bit because he's sincere. He is really looking towards a girl and he's not saying it because.

"What about you?" Stanley asks

"Well, I'm not sure about it." She replies. "Maybe a girl. Besides, we females are more creative than males, no offense."

"None taken, Peg. We all have different views about genders and stuff."

"Wait, but what if the baby turns out to be a boy?" she asks a bit worried

"It doesn't matter if the baby is a boy or a girl. What's important is that it's ours." He replies with a smile. _Please be a girl. Please be a girl. Please be a girl._

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxx

There it is, pals!

(BTW, I'm TigerBlack62. I wrote by myself this chapter)

Sorry for taking long.

And yes, the man Stanley's talking with is Jim Carrey :D It was a scene we decided to delete, but a friend requested it, so here it is!

Liger and I decided to change Peggy's gynaecologist/obstetrician name to Dr. Coulson. His name originally was "Dr. Richards". We changed it due to probable confusion (since Peggy's father's named Richard). We'll update the previous chapters soon. Talking about this SOB, I think he'd be like the main antagonist or something, I don't know. He will appear again. When? No idea. That depends on how the situation gets in the future.

Also, Liger and I have no idea what the baby's gender is. We're telling this to let you know. I think Stanley would like to have a daughter. He has a 'father of a girl' face XD Maybe his wish might become true, unless I decide to troll him like I troll him on deviantART (visit me there - .com) :trollface: However, if it's a boy, I don't think he would mind, since the offspring it's his.

BTW, we (Liger might be reading this via his iPhone in Guadalajara or wherever he's now to return home) would like to know what do you think the baby's gender is (:

Also, we'll speed the things, since we're not planning this fic to be like 30 chapters long.

Just a little reminder, we'll be giving this fanfic some mature tones, like treating real-life issues, you know, stuff that was considered a taboo in the TV, specially cartoons, during the 90s and earlier.

And if we f-ed up your childhood then we're sorry. That was not our intention.

Please review! We want to know what you think!

And if we had grammar mistakes, then sorry!

P.S. Stanley was watching South Park in case you didn't know. I was going to put him watching Ted, but Ted didn't exist back in the 90s and South Park did and still exists :D (I'm not a South Park fan (not anymore), Liger is).

Merry (late) Christmas!


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter XII: I know your secret, Stanley Ipkiss

A week passes.

It's the 'bring a familiar to work' day at the Evening Star.

Peggy is just walking around the city with her camera and notepad, thinking about where she could get her next big scoop. Rachel is with her, looking around wondering if the Mask is around.

She tried to convince Amanda to take Rachel with her a day earlier. Luckily for her, the 8-year-old girl was around and heard the conversation between her mother and aunt. She took it as an opportunity to (try to) meet her hero, the Mask. Some arguments later, Stanley's sister agreed on letting her daughter to stay with her aunt, just for some hours.

"Aunt Peggy," the 8-year-old said "Are you looking for the Mask?"

"Uhm, kind of." The 26-year-old woman replied. "You want to meet him, right?"

"Yes, of course I want! He's my hero and I'd like to let him know I'm his number one fan!"

The adult giggles.

"I think I have the feeling you might meet him sometime later, maybe at the end of the day, I don't know."

Suddenly, the city starts to shake after the sound of a powerful explosion.

"Maybe sooner, I think." Peggy corrects herself.

Both females rush into the source of the mayhem.

Meanwhile, Dak and Eddie, also known as the Terrible Two, are running away from a laboratory with a machine they stole.

They keep running until they lose the police and guards who were following them.

"Quickly, Dak!" Fish Guy said. "What's taking you so long?"

"I'm trying to do it as fast as I can, Eddie!" Putty Thing replies. "My fingers are too big for these tiny buttons!"

"Maybe I can help you, boys!" a familiar, funny voice said. "After all, my fingers are always the perfect size for every button."

"Gee thanks, dude!" Dak said

Both mutants turn their heads and gasp as they see the Mask, dressed as a cop.

"It seems you stole that machine and it's time for you to return it." The Mask said with an officer accent

"No way, dude!" Putty Thing replies, protecting the blender-looking machine. "This machine is our ticket to regain our human selves!"

"Besides, I'm sick of being useless, harmless, and pointless and my own odour makes me dizzy!"

"Well, it seems we have to fight for it." The Mask said and it starts to spin until he's 'Super Mask'. "But I'll fight it using justice as my main weapon."

The Superman-esque hero takes a giant weighting scale out of nowhere and uses it as a sword. Dak transforms into a giant Golem and, using Eddie as his sword, starts to fight the Mask.

A few seconds later, the mutant fish slips off his friend's hand and starts to slap the Mask's face with his fins and tail. Adding also that the sun was striking, Eddie's odour starts to appear and the green-headed man doesn't tolerate it. He spins until he's some Aquaman look-alike and summons a dinosaur-dolphin-shark hybrid, which scares Fish Guy off.

"I've proven to humankind I'm not as useless as this fish here." He said, imitating the hero he's impersonating. The hybrid looks back at the Mask, growling. "I was talking about the fish over there." He said with his normal voice as he points to Eddie.

"Hey! I'm not… well, you're right." Fish Guy said, disappointed of himself

"Hey Eddie!" Dak said, with the machine turned on. "I managed to turn it on!" he said as he takes his friend from the tail.

"Oh yeah! We're going to be humans again!" Fish Guy joyfully said.

The machine is about to explode and, seeing they were actually plotting on being humans again, the Mask decides to push them in order to save them, since the blender-looking thing was cracking when it was turned on. However, the thing explodes before the green-headed hero could reach the mutant teenagers.

Suddenly, there's a giant, white explosion that covers that part of the city.

Peggy, who was hiding behind a parked car with Rachel, starts to get a bit close to the explosion to take better photos of it.

After a short while, the explosion consumes itself.

There's no sign of the machine.

The teenagers are back to their old selves again.

They wake up and rub their respective heads. They note they have their hands and look like they used to be before their 'accident'. However, for some reason, Eddie's bad odour is still there.

Dak and Eddie leave the place, cheering, before the police arrive.

The Mask, who protected himself with a giant shield, seems he was not affected, since he's still fine.

"Wow! That was so amazing!" Rachel approaches him at the same time he looks at her. "You are the most awesome person I've ever seen!"

"Oh, why! Thank you, little girl!" The Mask said. "I suppose you're one of my youngest fans."

"I'm your number one fan! My friends and I even made a fan club in your honour!" Rachel added. "Why do you like to give wedgies? Are they fun to do? Can you give me an autograph? Can I touch your head? Can I? Can I? Can I?"

The Mask laughs friendly and lowers so the girl can touch his head. She touches it and is amazed by the texture and the fact it's not painted. She smiles and squeals like the fan she is.

"Of course I like to give wedgies, and they're very fun to do!" he said as he takes a pen and a photo of himself off his yellow blazer. He signs it and gives it to the girl.

"Aunt Peggy, can you take me a photo with the Mask? Please? Please? Pretty Please? Pretty Please with a cherry on the top?" the little girl asks

"Well, why not?" she replies as she takes her camera

As soon as they pose for the camera, and Peggy takes the photo, the green-faced hero's head starts to turn, slowly, into brown wood at the same time it starts to melt.

"Uh-oh!" The Mask said as he touches his head

He leaves as Hell from there and hides in an alley, where the wooden relic finally separates from his owner's face.

"What happened?" Stanley wondered. "Well, at least neither Rachel nor anybody found out about this. He heh." The 32-year-old male said as he puts the mask inside his blazer and leaves.

However, he was wrong.

Detective Doyle saw him.

He's still open-mouthed and surprised.

"Stanley Ipkiss is the Mask!" he said.

Luckily for him, Lt. Kellaway isn't around.

Even if he saw him, he couldn't believe it.

Lt. Kellaway was right all this time. His suspicions, the proofs, the pyjama. Everything.

He has flashbacks about Mitch telling him all this and why he believed Stanley is the green-faced freakazoid he loathes with a passion.

Now, still surprised, Delbert is in his way to find and tell his partner what he saw, however, something inside him tells him not to do it. Even if it was the correct thing to do, it is better to keep it a secret.

He admits the Mask has saved a lot of lives since he first appeared in the map. He even saved them when they were inside Milo while they were microscopic. However, it was actually Stanley who saved them and not his wacky counterpart. Doyle also admits he took a liking on the wedgies he and Kellaway receive from him. He takes it as a funny prank, but Mitch takes it as one more reason why he should send Mr. Ipkiss to the electric chair.

Some minutes later, he finishes debating with himself and decides not to tell anyone, but has to confront Stanley.

The Mask has saved them a lot of work, much to his' and some cops' delight and Kellaway's dismay.

-xxx-

The next day, Doyle goes to the Bank to visit Stanley.

The brown-haired bank clerk sees him and tries not to get nervous.

"Hey, Mr. Ipkiss!" Doyle said

"Hello, Detective." Stanley replies as he leaves the papers he was checking. "May I help you in something?"

"Uhm, kind of." He said. "Never mind, I just want to talk with you." He seats in one of the chairs

"About what?" Mr. Ipkiss asks

"I know your secret."

Stanley gulps. Since he thinks he doesn't know about his identity, he plays the curious.

"What secret?"

"Mr. Ipkiss, we both know I'm referring to the Mask."

His heart wanted to stop as he freezes in fear.

"B-but how…"

"Yesterday after the mutant incident." Doyle said. "I went to hide in a bakery and when the thing was over, I left at the same time I saw the Mask running fast into the alley. I was curious, so I followed. And then, what it came off your face was a wooden mask, probably the same one the Lieutenant claims he saw Milo with after the mayhem at the Coco Bongo, almost a year ago."

Stanley is still in shock.

Aside from Peggy, Milo, and some archenemies, someone else knows his secret.

"Stanley, I won't tell anybody."

"You won't?" he asks, still perplexed

Doyle smiles.

"You've saved the police a lot of time on catching crooks and we still get paid the same." He chuckles. "You're a good man, by the way. You have good friends who will even wear the Mask just to save you."

"Thanks, Detective." He replies

"I might appear dumb at sight, but believe me; I'm smarter than I look." Doyle continues. "The night Mitch arrested you… well… between the belongings that were confiscated... do you remember the green, rubber mask the Lieutenant claimed you used to rob the bank and cause mayhem?"

Stanley nods

"Well, I knew it was fake. It had ears, while the Mask lacked of those. Oh, and the mask had neck, while the Mask didn't had it green." He chuckles. "I myself was curious about its function and I didn't believe any word, so I went where the evidence was and tried the rubber mask after I saw Mitch leaving the station with you. And you know what happened? Nothing. You were lucky Mayor Tilton and many famous personalities attended to the Coco Bongo that night and saw you being the hero, causing you being given a monetary compensation and erased from the police's criminal database, much to the Lieutenant's annoyance. Because of 'pointless accusations' and the evidence to-be-used against you at the courthouse proved to be forged, Mitch, even today, is forced to do double shifts with a reduced salary."

"But there's something I don't understand." Stanley said. "The fingerprints were mine… how in Earth…" he sees Doyle smiles lightly.

"I added in the reports Edge City's Bank's system was hacked by one of the deceased henchmen of Dorian. We had their fingerprints, so I arrived first than the forensics team and planted evidence that pointed to the one nicknamed "The Doctor", who also has criminal history related with hacking governmental systems and creating exact replicas of fingerprints. I left a few minutes prior to their arrival and arrived to the scene fifteen minutes later, with the Lieutenant, of course."

"You're very smart."

"Thanks, Mr. Ipkiss."

"But why you don't…"

"Because I don't feel like it." He replied. "Mitch will kill me if he finds out I'm smart enough to solve many cases and he'll send me to the FBI to help with the unresolved cases just to get rid of me. That means no more junk food, naps, and perhaps TV. Can I trust you with this secret?"

"Of course you can. You're keeping mine safe."

Doyle stands up and leaves, also saying he was never there and the conversation never happened.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxx

There it is, pals!

Sorry for taking long.

Originally, we were going to put Dr. Pretorius here, but since he's way too used in the Mask fanfics we've read (yes, Tiger and I) we decided to give these two dim-witted teens an 'opportunity to rise to fame'. Ha ha ha. Oh, well…

I believe they're sick of their crappy personas and are searching a way or a machine to return them to their human state again, so I came up with this. My co-author agreed, of course.

Tiger came up with the idea Doyle is secretly some smart guy with a good aim and plays the idiot when he's around with people, especially Kellaway.

Just a little reminder, we'll be giving this fanfic some mature tones, like treating real-life issues, you know, stuff that was considered a taboo in the TV, specially cartoons, during the 90s and earlier.

And if we f-ed up your childhood then we're sorry. That was not our intention.

Please review! We want to know what you think!

And if we had grammar mistakes, then sorry!

Happy New 2013!


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter XIII: Dirty Deeds, part I

After Doyle left, Stanley recalls the Mask fell off his head. He thought Peggy would have been around taking pictures and stuff due to her job and she might tell him what happened.

In the meanwhile, at the Evening Star, some reporters, most of them male, are complaining at Ramsey, since he forbid the smoking inside the building.

"Seriously, Ramses!" one of the male reporters said. "Just because of that we can't smoke?"

"Guys, guys!" the main editor said. "All of us know it's necessary. Next year you will be able to smoke again!"

"I can't wait that long!" Linda said

"Me neither." Clark, the black-haired reporter, said. "When smoking, my ideas start to flow. Now they're stuck and I will die along with them!"

"Stop being so dramatic!" Ramsey said. "If you really, really want your damn smoking habit back again, you can do it outside-! And no! You can't smoke in the bathroom!"

"Aw, come on!" Ryan continues complaining.

The complaints get more annoying each second. The main editor can't take it anymore.

"Either you go back to your work or all of you are fired!" Ramsey roars

The reporters return to their respective duties.

"What a crab." One of the female reporters whispered to another

"Indeed he is." She replies.

"It's not my fault Brandt is expecting a kid." John said as he was taking a piece of tobacco off a cigarette box. "This thing tastes so awful, but at least it doesn't 'pollute the air'". He starts to chew it.

"I just can't wait for her to have her kid." Doug said. "Without her being pregnant we can go back to smoke."

"I need a cigar." Linda said

"Yeah, me too." Some of them said and the bunch of reporters left the building.

They were unaware Peggy was around and heard everything she said.

"Hey Peg, where you looking for me?" A male voice said from behind her

The female reporter turns around and sees Murray.

"Uhm, yes." She said as she handles some papers to him. "It's the final draft of the 'Mayor uses taxes to buy luxury' controversy."

The editor-in-chief takes the papers and starts to read them quickly. He nods.

"I think this one's going to be a hit tomorrow morning, don't you think?" he asks

"Oh, yeah, sure." She replies

"Peg, what's going on? Is it about this morning's incident?"

"No, it's not that. It's just… I think the whole department hates me."

"I see." He chuckles. "I know quit smoking is a shock for people who live with that bad habit. It's like a sudden death for them."

"How do you know that? I thought…"

"When I was young I was nicknamed 'The Chimney'. It took me four years to quit smoking. Since then, I'm tobacco-free."

"Your wife forced you?"

"No, I forced myself. I was tired of spending money on cigars and I wanted to breathe fresh air again. I once had a failure, but look at me now."

"You're like a mentor."

"It's my job, remember? I have the weekly 'Answers for Troubled People'."

She laughs friendly.

Peggy looks at the clock.

"I got to go." She said. "Stanley could be waiting for me."

"Okay, Peg." He replies. "I'll give Ramsey the papers. See you tomorrow."

Both leave.

As she guessed, her husband is waiting for her. He notes her approaching and greets Peggy by hugging her and kissing her in her cheek.

"How was your day?" he asks

"Fine, and boring, like sometimes." She replies as she gets in the car. "I wish things could get exciting."

"Well, look at the good side, Peg." He said as he turned on the car. "I let you to be the 'official Mask photographer." He chuckles. "Besides, I heard your article was well received and, like always, Kellaway claims the Mask is behind the crimes in Edge City."

Peggy starts to chuckle.

Both continue talking about what happened yesterday. Minutes later, they arrive to the female's apartment.

"Well, talking about your article," Stanley said as he was waiting for Peggy to open the door. "Do you have any idea why the Mask fell off my face?" he asks

"I'm not really sure about it." She replies as she finally opens it and both enter. "After that, Rachel started to ask me if I had any idea what happened to the Mask."

"What did you tell her?"

"He was sick."

"She believed it?"

"How am I supposed to know?"

Stanley sighs and sits in the nearest chair. He starts to replay in his head everything Peggy said to him. The battle, the machine, the explosion…

_Wait a minute._ He said in his mind. "Peggy, you said, when the machine exploded, the Terrible Two regained their human selves, right?"

"That's what I said."

"What if part of the explosion affected the Mask? That might explain why it fell off." He said as he takes the wooden relic from his blazer. "There's just one thing we can do prove this theory."

Stanley puts on the mask and starts to spin until he's the green-headed maniac, who appears dressed like the fitness personality Richard Simmons.

"Come on, lady!" The Mask said imitating Simmons' voice at the same time the music 'Shake your Booty' starts to play from an unknown location. "Shake that fat off those curves!"

"Fat?" Peggy asks, sort of offended and grossed out.

The Mask continues exercising akin to the rhythm of the music.

"Come on, come on, girl!" he continues. "Shake, shake, shake!"

"Mask, I'm not fat!" she said while stopping him. "I'm pregnant!"

The music stops and then he spins until he's in his normal attire.

"Oh, congratulations!" the green-headed man said. "Is it a boy? Is it a girl?"

"Well… actually-"

"Nah-ah-ah!" he said as he covers her mouth with one of his hands. "Don't tell me! I hate ruined surprises!"

Suddenly, a clock starts to ring. The Mask takes the clock out of nowhere and, instead of the classic numbers, it has written 'Play with Kellaway'.

"Oooh! Look at the time!" The maniac said, showing the female the clock. "It's fun time! You can come with me so you can take awesome photos of me playing pranks to the cops. Oh! And be sure to take my best angles. My fans adore those angles!"

The Mask takes Peggy and starts to spin out of the room.

In the meanwhile, Lt. Kellaway and Doyle are patrolling the area before their break. They come across a traffic light in red.

Mitch seems stressed. His desires of finally capturing the Mask are boiling. He's decided. If he sees that pest again he'll send Stanley to the electric chair.

Doyle, on the other hand, knows that would be impossible, since the green-headed man is way faster than he is, and it would take Lt. Kellaway a lot of time to capture it.

"You know Doyle," the raven-haired man said while waiting for the green light. "You're acting weird lately. Is everything fine?"

Delbert tries not to sound or act suspicious. He doesn't remember something he did that might have been 'out of self'. He has to maintain his goofy and lazy look so no one could send him to work with the FBI or the CIA or whatever. Doyle spends almost every afternoon reading summaries and plots of comic books to add the geek touch in his persona. One could say he's the classic prodigy who hates using his full potential due to wanting to be seen as lazy and unable to do heavier tasks. A plus point for him is his weight. Thanks to it, he can't run as fast as he ran when he was young. Fortunately, at that time, he was just a cop. How he got promoted to detective is still unknown.

"Well, I… I just… well…" Doyle said

"Damn it, Doyle! Speak it or spit it!" the Lieutenant angered

"Fine, fine. I recently read some comic book and it had me perplexed because…"

"I suggest you to keep away from comic books, Delbert." Mitch said. "I heard those can make people retarded. And I believe it's kind of late to you, so don't worsen it."

Doyle sighs as the traffic light gives the green light.

"Hey, is this space taken?" a familiar voice said.

Kellaway reacts and turns his head to the window and his rage starts to boil because the Mask is behind him, riding his trademark happy car.

"YOU!" The lieutenant roars and growls

"Come on, Lt. Smellaway!" the Mask said. "I bet you can't catch me!" he said

The green-headed maniac suddenly starts to speed up and the Lieutenant follows.

The persecution looks so intense. The crazy man turns his head and sees his favourite guinea pig is being followed by eight police cars. He grins like a spoiled little brat and goes faster than before.

He's approaching the bridge. Suddenly, this starts to open.

Stuff has just got serious.

The Mask manages to cross the bridge, while Lt. Kellaway and company are falling into either the sea or a boat transporting garbage.

Peggy approaches and keeps taking photos.

"Amazing." She said. "This is so going to the front page!"

The Mask spins until he's wearing his yellow suit.

"Don't forget to take my best angles, fatty! Chicks dig me!" he said while posing for the reporter.

"Watch it!" she said "I'm not fat!"

"Whatever you say, f… Peggy." The maniac replies. "Just keep taking photos of me."

The Mask starts to spin until he's in his 'Captain Ahab' attire and, out of nowhere, takes a fishing rod out of nowhere, with a donut as bait.

He throws the bait and the rod starts to shake. He pulls it out until he sees Doyle with Mitch, who is holding on one of Doyle's leg.

"Well, well!" the Mask said with a captain accent. "Look what I got here!" he said as he's tying both detective and lieutenant like the fish they were for him. "A chubby fish and a sour shark!" he starts to pose for the camera as Kellaway starts to growl and his face turns red while his blood is boiling of rage.

"Let me go!" The Lieutenant roars.

"Shut up! Fish are not supposed to talk!" the Captain Ahab look-alike said while moving his eye-patch to the other eye.

The angry lieutenant frees himself from the rope and starts to attack the Mask. The green-headed man starts to spin until he's dressed like Dr. Neumann and takes a divan out of nowhere.

"So, Mr. Kellaway, why are you viciously attacking the Mask?" he asks while writing down something in his notepad.

"Well… I-"

Before he could even finish, the Mask puts a bunch of socks in Mitch's mouth.

"No, no, no." the Mask said with an accent reminiscent of Dr. Neumann. "There are things that are better left unsaid, but I'll tell you what." He continued. "There's a cure for your Maskosis."

"Really?" Lt. Kellaway asks. "What is it?"

"It's a simple technique I call…" he said as he approaches him. "WEDGIE!" The Mask said with his original accent as he's wedgie-ing the raven-haired man. "But, since you're a special case, I have to keep you safe with this straight jacked made out of your underwear!"

The Mask leaves spinning as he's laughing like the maniac he is.

Doyle, after a while, frees himself and goes to help the lieutenant.

"Lieutenant, are you alright?" he asks

"Do I look I'm fine, Delbert?" he hisses and roars at the same time he's freeing himself from that prison made out of his boxers. "Stanley Ipkiss is a dead man!"

"But Lieutenant, I thought…"

"It doesn't matter for me what you think! Stanley Ipkiss is the Mask! And I'll prove it!"

"Lieutenant, you're just going to make a fool out of yourself. Do you know how many people wanted you to retire immediately after you blamed Ipkiss many times before the forensics had the results?"

"DOYLE!"

"Besides, he's going to be a father soon, did you knew that?"

"Just wait when…" he stops. "Did you say _he's_ going to be a father?"

"Well yes, but…"

"Imagine the carnage his spawn will do! We're doomed!"

"Lieutenant, his wife is waiting for a baby, not a mutant."

"Everything coming from Ipkiss equals to one step closer to the end of the world. Doyle, we have to keep an eye on him!"

"Mitch, I think you should retire."

"WHAT!" he roars

"Or maybe have a vacation. Your family's getting worried. Margaret said to me you always mumble 'Mask I'm going to get my revenge', 'Ipkiss, why don't you confess you're the Mask', 'Mask, I'm going to freaking kill you', among other stuff in your sleep." He said. "She's worried, Lieutenant. Adding also you're keeping your distance from your girls. A cop's duty implies losing the life. What if this was the last time they saw you? Do you imagine how will they remember their father?"

Mitch keeps thinking.

"I know it's not my business to know that, but… your wife told me I'm the second person she can trust, while the first one is basically fading away from the family." Doyle continues. "And because you're always absent, she's been thinking she has to search for a male role model for your daughters, that's why she's seeing other men. Also, she's thinking on getting a divorce so she could start her life over again, alongside Susan and Debbie."

Kellaway starts to think about it. Since the Mask appeared in the map, he has reduced his goals into one: 'Capture the Mask'. At first it was normal for him to be absent, since crime is always rising in Edge City. Then, with the green-headed maniac in scene, his absenting was more frequent. He has missed his wife's and daughters' birthdays, his wedding anniversary, even his own birthday.

"You're right, Doyle." The lieutenant said. "I recognize I let my obsession over the Mask to take control of me."

Doyle smiles.

"I think you should take a vacation, Lieutenant." The chubby man replies. "After all, you deserve it."

"Come on, Doyle." He said. "I'll give you a ride back home."

"I'd love that, Lieutenant, but…" Delbert said. "The car is in the deep sea."

"DOYLE!"

In the meanwhile, after dealing with the Mask and taking more pictures for tomorrow's articles, Peggy Brandt leaves to her apartment, wishing to have the rest she wanted since work hours were over for today.

As soon as she reaches her bed and sighs at the same time she puts one of her hands around the forming bulge, the phone starts to ring. She growls and snatches it off the hook.

"Hello?" she asked

"Hey, Peggy." A familiar, male voice said. "Long time no see. Or hear."

"Dad?" she freezes and gasps as she recognized the voice

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxx

There it is, pals!

Sorry for taking long.

First, my grandparents were taken ill and we had to stay with them at the hospital. Two days later, in January 6, at night, my grandma passed away. We buried her two days later, and my aunt got the permit to take my grandpa from the hospital just for a while. That night, my parents and uncles took my grandpa to another city, where hospitals are more sophisticated. Now, my gramps' in a coma :'(

My grandma was a nice person. We loved her, especially me. Like her, I have Tourette's syndrome. One of my aunts has it too.

BTW, school kicked our respective butts recently, so it's less probable we'll be updating this fanfic.

Oh! I almost forgot! Because of personal reasons, Tiger and I decided to flip the coin earlier (you know, to know the baby's gender) xD.

Just a little reminder, we'll be giving this fanfic some mature tones, like treating real-life issues, you know, stuff that was considered a taboo in the TV, specially cartoons, during the 90s and earlier.

And if we f-ed up your childhood then we're sorry. That was not our intention.

Please review! We want to know what you think!

And if we had grammar mistakes, then sorry!


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter XIV: Dirty Deeds, part II

"Yes, sweetie. It's me." Richard said from the other line. "I'm sorry if I surprised you."

Peggy knows he's plotting something. She has never been called like that by him. To be precise, she has never ever received a call from him and is aware he wants something. And it has nothing to do with apologizing.

"There's no need to get nervous." He said

"Dad, why are you calling me?"

"Well, let me just get to the point." He continues. "The truth is… I was a real, genuine jackass of a father and I needed to admit that to you."

"What do you want?"

"Tobey mentioned to your mother that your husband works in a bank and I need the money to pay some debts."

Because she's curious, Peggy follows the game and decides to ask how much he needs.

"How much?"

"30 grand."

"Richard, that's not going to happen."

"Well, fine. Whatever. Forget it."

"I'm sorry, but even if Stanley or I had the funds we wouldn't even give you a single penny. Not after humiliating him or treating me like garbage all my life."

"What kind of daughter won't even help out her own goddamn father?"

"Gee, Dad! I knew you were not going to change! And Elliot's investing his time to help you and Mom to resolve your issues!"

"Just shut the hell up!"

"You know what? I don't want to see or hear you again." She furiously said as she hangs the phone.

She can't believe it.

Peggy tries to relax herself and tries to forget the last minutes.

_Dumbass._ She muttered

She knows her father more than he can imagine. Richard is a gambler and likes to hang out with his friends, who are also as worse as him.

How he got her phone number is, so far, unknown.

Because she's scared, she takes the phone and dials her husband. A couple of seconds later, he answers the phone.

"Hello?" a tired Stanley answers from the other line.

"Stanley, it's me." Peggy said

"What's up, Peg." He replied. "Do you need something?"

"Stan, I'm not sure if this is a bad moment, but… may I move in with you?"

"Oh… sure, you can. Is someone hunting you or something?"

"Kind of. I'll explain you later. And thanks."

Both hang the phone.

Some hours later, Peggy arrives to her husband's apartment, with most of her stuff inside a couple of suitcases. She knocks the door and Stanley opens it. Judging by her expression, he knows there's something wrong.

"Is everything alright?" he asks as he takes her suitcases.

"It's my dad." She said. "He called me."

"What?"

"I don't know how he found out my number, and I think he might have an eye on you." She said as she closes the door. "He knows you work at Edge City's Bank. I'm worried."

"What did he wanted?" he comforts her

"He wanted money."

"How much, a million dollars?" he said sarcastically.

"30 thousand." She replied. "I don't know what to do. What if he knows where I live?"

Stanley keeps thinking for a couple of minutes. Suddenly, he gets an idea and smiles a bit.

"Peg, if it makes you happy," he said. "I'll let you to move in with me. You'll be safe here."

"Stan, it'll just be for a few days. I don't want to."

"Peggy, I'm your best friend, your source, your husband. My new job is to make sure you're fine. Don't overstress. My apartment is your apartment. When time comes, and our financial situation gets better, we'll search another place to live."

He rubs her head and kisses her cheek as she hugs him and rests her head in his chest.

Stanley thinks Richard might know where Peggy lives, but he won't figure out soon where he lives.

Some hours later, both go to the bed and try to get some sleep.

-xxx-

It's around noon, and Stanley's at the bank doing some daily checkups. Suddenly, Charlie arrives.

"Hey, Stan, my man." He greets him. "I have good news for you."

"Am I getting the well-deserved vacation you promised me a couple of years ago?" he wonders.

"Uhm, not exactly." The Bank Manager replied. "Mr. Dickey, Sr. is sending you to conduct an extremely important international financial transaction."

"That's cool." He replies. "And where I have to go?"

"London."

"London?" he asks to be sure if it's the place he's thinking. "As in, the London in the UK?"

"The same!" Charlie said as he gives Stanley the papers, a giant book, a steel-made suitcase with handcuffs, and an Airport Pass. "You'll need all of this. Your plane leaves tonight, so I suggest leaving early to pack your stuff because you'll be staying there all the week."

"Charlie, I cannot." He said. "Peggy will be alone. I have to look out after her."

"Come on, boy! Peggy will be absolutely fine. You don't have to worry. She's strong."

"She's pregnant."

"Man, she's like 2 months pregnant. It's not like the baby's going to pop out by now."

"Why are you sending me and not Chase, or Carl, or Bruce, or you, or anyone but me?"

"Because we don't have some certifications you have. Stanley, you're the only one who's certificated in Buzan's MindMapping. And because of that, you're the only one who could represent Edge City in London. Man, this could be the one-life opportunity you might have in your life."

Stanley starts to think it again.

"Well, maybe Peggy can stay with my mother while I'm in London." He said

"That's awesome, pal!" he congratulates his friend. "Now _git_ going, boy. There's a lot of packing you have to do!"

Stanley leaves the bank, thinking what he's going to tell his wife.

A half-an-hour later, he parks outside the building where his apartment is. Inside his car, the 32-year-old is practicing what he's going to say. He's contemplating whether it's the right thing to tell her about him being in London for a week, especially when Richard might be trying to locate her.

The man glances to himself on one of the car's mirrors.

"Peggy, guess what. I'm going to London for a week and you should stay with my mother in the meanwhile because your father might locate and force you to loan him money we don't have. Can you believe I'm going to the UK?" he awkwardly laughs and grunts. "No, that was terrible." He sighs. Then, he tries another one. "Peggy, I have to go to London for a week. It's a business trip. What if you stay with my mother in the meanwhile? I promise I'll be in contact with you every day." He grunts. "No, too desperate."

He keeps practicing until he decides he has had enough and leaves to his apartment, where he's greeted by his Jack Russell.

"Hey there, Milo!" he takes his dog in his arms. "Guess what, buddy. I'm going to the UK tonight."

The dog starts to whine.

"Hey, hey. It'll just be a week. Peggy will stay with you. Make me a promise you'll take care of her."

The dog barks, agreeing to what his owner said.

"Good dog, now I'll start to pack my stuff."

Stanley opens his closet and gets a couple of suitcases. He starts to take some clothes, a notebook, two pens, and his teddy bear. Luckily Peggy is unaware about its existence. He knows she'll make fun of him, telling him he's too old for that. Suddenly, he sees the wooden relic, standing there.

_Well, the Mask never fell off, so I might take it to the trip. Just in case._ He thought.

After debating with himself for over two minutes, he takes it and hides it inside his blazer.

He leaves to the couch and starts to watch some cartoons before leaving to the Evening Star.

-xxx-

A couple of hours later, Stanley arrives to the building and starts to wait for Peggy, outside his car.

"Hey, man. Waiting for someone?" a familiar male voice asked

Stanley turns his head and sees its Peggy's father.

"What do you want?" Stanley asks him

"Well, Stanford, I can tell that you care about my daughter."

"It's Stanley." He corrects him.

"Whatever, I'm just here to find out how much you care for her."

"Get to the point."

"I have some information that could be very damaging for Peggy. Now, I could give this information to _you-know-who_, or you could pay me a nice, tidy sum to keep it to myself."

"What are you talking about?"

"You see… I found out … when Peggy was a teenager; she was part of some now extinct drug-dealing street gang named 'The Big Bang Bringers'. The boss was some guy named Eugene Rapaz, who was also her boyfriend. The police are still searching them, so I figured the cops could get her to spill the soup."

"You're lying. I know Peggy better than you. She said she was the girlfriend of some guy named Rapaz but nothing about being part of his gang. And if that's true, why aren't the police following her?"

"Because I haven't told them about her involving yet."

"What?"

"Where do you think they were getting all those juicy, little plums? Hm? A month ago, I was cleaning the attic until I found Peg's diary. I read it and I found all the information those guys-in-blue needed to bust Rapaz many years ago. After I became their informant, the police started to pay me to dish dirt on Rapaz, his gang, and my daughter. But I was saving the good stuff, Peggy's involvement, for a bigger payday. Then the dumbfudge in charge got himself killed, and… pfft. There went my meal ticket."

"You'd sell your only daughter out for meals?"

"Screw meals, man. I'm up to my ears in gambling debt. But you do what you gotta do. So, you're going to give me my 30 grand, or do I send her to jail?"

Stanley approaches him, almost growling.

"Get out of here before you see my bad side." The brown-haired man growled

"You might want to ask her about 'The Big Bang Bringers' before you come to a final decision. Then we'll talk numbers."

Richard leaves the street while showing a greedy smile.

Stanley is surprised.

Peggy told him Richard was greedy, but it appears he's almost the devil himself. He can't believe what he heard. He wants to teach him a lesson again. He's feeling the urge and desires to be right now the famous serial killer 'Gulf Slasher' everyone's talking of. And he doesn't know how to confront his wife and tell her he's going to the UK.

Talking about her…

Peggy's leaving the building, carrying a few papers.

"Hey, Stanley!" she said

"Peggy, we need to talk." He said, trying to hide his nervousness.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxx

There it is, pals!

Sorry for taking long.

School's kicking our butts, so it's less probable we'll be updating this fanfic.

Tiger's a bit busy but she told me to update. When she's free, she'll check Richard's dialogue with Stanley, because I felt it was a bit confusing. She knows that b*stard better than me, since she said she partially based him off her dad (but her dad isn't like Peggy's dad. Tiger's dad is a cold businessman who cares for his family).

Just a little reminder, we'll be giving this fanfic some mature tones, like treating real-life issues, you know, stuff that was considered a taboo in the TV, specially cartoons, during the 90s and earlier.

And if we f-ed up your childhood then we're sorry. That was not our intention.

Please review! We want to know what you think!

And if we had grammar mistakes, then sorry!


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter XV: Dirty Deeds, part III

"Stanley, what's going on?" She asks, worried

"Get in the car. It's better to talk about it there." He said

Both get in the car and leave.

"Stanley, is everything fine?" she asks

"I don't think so." He replies. "I have to go to the UK tonight and I'll be back in a week."

"What?"

"It's a business trip. I didn't want to go, but my boss had no option. Oh, and it gets worse?"

"Worse?"

"Your father had a talk with me in front of the Evening Star."

She gasps.

"He told me a lot of things, but I'm not sure if he's making them up."

"Like what?"

"Were you part of a drug gang named 'The Big Bang Bringers'?" he asks curiously

Peggy freezes in fear.

Silently, and embarrassed, she nods.

"Why didn't you told me?" he wonders

"I-I don't know." She said. "I was afraid."

"Afraid of what?"

"I don't know. I-How did he find out?"

"He said you had a diary and he read it." He replied. "The good thing here is that he hasn't told the police about your involvement with Rapaz, yet."

"What do you mean with 'yet'?"

"Your dad's blackmailing you." He said. "He added… if I don't give him the 30 grand, he'll tell the police."

She gasps.

"Oh no." she worries more."What would I do?" she buries her head with both of her hands with shame, disappointment, and fear.

"All we can do is try not to panic, especially you." He said. "Peg, just tell me what you did when you dated that guy. Maybe I can track him down and confront him as the Mask."

"How is it going to help? Nobody has seen or heard of Eugene after the fight he and the rest of his gang had with a rival. He could be dead."

"Or he's alive, using a pseudonym."

Peggy starts to think again and, later, she decides to tell him all she knows.

"I used to date Eugene when I was younger." She said. "I just know he was someone who offered to help me in chemistry class, since I had troubles with it. He told me to join his group. And I did. Full of science lovers. The guy and I started to date, and sometimes I'd sneak in the night just to be with him." She sighs. "I kept seeing him, even after Tobey found out and told me to stay away from him. That night was the last time I saw Eugene. Not because I broke up with him, I never did. Because… he took me with him that night and started to be a bit strange."

"How strange?"

"He said 'Peg, whatever it happens, take my place in the gang'. At first I thought he was going to move or something. A few minutes later, he told me to hide, before saying 'I love you'. Suddenly, a lot of guys dressed in black appeared behind him and another gang appeared. That's when I realized 'The Big Bang Bringers' were not the type of group I thought it was."

"You never realized it?"

"I rarely watched the news, so I never made a connection."

"What about their 'chemistry experiments'? Weren't they suspicious?"

"Since the elements have weird names I assumed they were talking 'nerd' language."

"Well… analyzing that… I have nothing in mind, but believe me." Stanley said. "I think he's still alive."

"Great. That was not a big help. How are we going to evade my father?"

Stanley already forgot all about Richard. He shakes his head and sighs.

"Peg," Her husband said. "While I'm in the UK, you'll stay with my mother. I don't think Richard will follow you, not when my mom lives 30 minutes from here."

"You don't know him, Stanley." She said. "He's as worse as hell. He has sold many of his friends to the police in exchange of money."

_Now I see where you got that from._ Stanley said in his mind. "Peggy, calm down. You're stressing me with your anxiety. We'll go to your apartment and you'll pack the rest of your stuff. You're no longer safe there. He knows your phone number and probably where you live."

"Thank goodness the rent expires today."

After a few minutes, they arrive and Stanley helps her to pack her remaining stuff.

An hour later, they finish and she starts to feel it was yesterday when she moved to where now she used to live.

"Come on, Peg." Stanley said to her, snapping her off her thoughts. "I'll take your stuff to the car. Go and talk with your landlord."

She nods and leaves.

-xxx-

The 32-year-old bank clerk is waiting his wife inside the car.

After 20 minutes, Peggy finally leaves the building and enters to the car.

"Ready." She said. "Now what?"

"Let's go to the apartment so you can get some clothes for the week. Then we'll see." He said, hiding the stress he was feeling.

They leave to Stanley's apartment.

The male helps her with her stuff. Everything goes fine until his nagging landlord appears.

"Ipkiss! What the hell's going on? Are you moving out?" she asks

"N-no, Mrs. Peenman. It's just-I… well, my friend will be staying with me some days because of… personal reasons, yes." Stanley said with a half-convincing voice.

"Alright, I just hope the two of you pay the rent. If not, you're all out of here!" she said and left to her apartment.

The male sighs and opens the door. Both friends are greeted by Milo, who has a tennis ball in his muzzle. Peggy takes the ball and throws it near the bed. The Jack Russell leaves and searches for the ball.

"We'll definitely find another place sometime sooner." She said

"But for now, we should conform to this." He said. "I suggest you to start packing meanwhile I get busy with another things."

"Okay, then." She replies.

After a long while, Peggy's ready to leave. While she was packing the necessary stuff, Stanley was talking with his mother about the situation. She agreed on letting her stay the time she needed.

Stanley, Peggy, and Milo are now entering to the car and leave with caution.

The female reporter has to admit it; Richard's turning them into paranoiacs.

Some minutes later, they arrive.

Mildred receives them and notes both her son and his wife are feeling tense and overstressed as the bank clerk is urging all of them to get inside.

"Stan, is everything fine?" his mother asks

"Yes, well… no. I mean, perhaps." He replies. "Well, I'll explain you later. I have to leave to the airport. I'll be back in a week. And thanks again, mom, for helping us. See you!"

The male leaves.

Suddenly, Rachel comes in. She wonders what was going on, since she heard her uncle.

"Grandma, is Uncle Stanley here?" she asks

"Your uncle had to leave to a business trip and he'll return in a week." Peggy lowers until she's eye-to-eye with her. "And I'll be staying with you until he returns." She lightly smiles

"How awesome!" she hugs her aunt. "I'm telling mom! She'll love to hear that!" she turns to Milo. "Come on, Milo! Mom will love to see you!"

Rachel leaves to her mother, who is in the kitchen, with the dog following her.

"She's very active." Peggy said

"Indeed she is." Mildred giggled. "She's just as active as her mother when she was her age." She turns to Peggy. "Let me show you the guestroom."

The red-haired reporter follows her in-law to the room.

"Here it is." The brown-haired female said. "I think it's a bit small, since it used to be Stanley's room."

"I think it's okay for me." Peggy replies. "Thank you." She said as she enters to the room and leaves the suitcases.

The pregnant reporter sits on the bed and tries not to worry a lot.

Milo arrives and climbs onto the bed. She pets him as he tries to make her comfortable.

"It's okay, Milo." She said as she heard the dog was whining. "Everything's going to be okay sometime later."

"Hi, Peggy." Amanda said while knocking the opened door. "Can I come in?" she asks

"Sure." She replies

Stanley's sister sits behind the red-haired female as the dog moves to the couch near the window. She perceives there's something wrong. Knowing she might just want to talk about it, Amanda asks.

"Peggy, I know there's something bugging you." She said. "Is everything alright between my brother and you?"

Peggy sighs.

"Yes, it's just…"

Amanda waits for her to continue.

Peggy sighs.

"I don't think you might understand." Peggy replies. "I'd prefer to just try to forget it."

Amanda nods.

"Okay, then." She replies. "If you want to talk about it, just call me." She said. "By the way, try not to stress. Your baby will be receiving it and that's a bad thing, you know?"

As soon as Amanda's getting up, Peggy stops her.

"Wait." She said.

Amanda stops and looks at her again.

"Please, promise me you won't comment it to anybody." The red-haired reporter said. "Not even your mother, or Stanley. Don't tell him I told you about this." She said

"It's a promise." She replies as she sits down.

"I'm being blackmailed." Peggy said, not looking at her eyes

Amanda gasps.

"What?"

"Someone is blackmailing me." Peggy continues. "And I don't know what to do. He wants to get 30 thousand just to stay quiet."

"About what?"

"I… hmm… was involved, when I was a teen, with a guy named Eugene Rapaz." She said. "I never figured out he was a… drug dealer."

"Oh, dear!" Amanda exclaims discretely

"And this guy who's blackmailing me knows about my involvement and he's taking advantage."

"Why don't you tell the police? They might understand."

"Amanda," Peggy said. "They won't believe a word of me. I'm a reporter. One of those cops hates Stanley with a burning passion. What if they think I'm keeping contact with Rapaz and I'm helping him smuggling 'stuff'?"

"Well, that's now a problem." She said. "But believe me, I don't know how. I don't know when. Your problem will be solved and that man won't be bothering nor you or my brother ever again."

"How can you be sure about it?"

"I'm just sure." She said. "There are things that have not an explanation yet."

-xxx-

_8:55 p.m._

_2 hours before the plane leaves._

Stanley's on his way to Richard's wood shop.

He's very furious because his in-law's blackmailing his only daughter, as well he's thinking on using her as a source for money. The 32-year-old is determined to give him a lesson even more 'darker' than the last one. Neither murder nor money has to do with it. Just a strong, psychological trauma. And probably also a broken bone or two.

It's odd.

Very odd.

He never felt very protective when he was, officially, with Tina. Stanley was just filled with innocent lust-er… he just got lost in her every time he saw her. He starts to wonder where she is now. It's been past a year since their relationship came to an unexpected end. Ironically, he doesn't feel anything for her anymore, despite remembering a few memories he shared with her. Sometimes he'd imagine Tina Carlyle was 'abducted by aliens', something that made him chuckle once or twice every couple of months. It could also explain why anybody talks about her at the Coco Bongo anymore. Not even in the Bank.

Five minutes later, Stanley arrives to the wood shop and waits for Richard to leave the place.

Just in time, the dark red-haired man is leaving his place, ready to go home.

"Mask, you know what you have to do." Stanley said

Decided, he puts the mask on and suddenly the man starts to spin until he's a tornado. A second later, he stops, now transformed onto the green menace, dressed with a black tunic.

"Somebody stop me!" the Mask exclaims as he leaves the car as a human tornado.

At the same time, Mr. Brandt is driving, bored as always.

Suddenly, he starts to choke. There's a rope in his neck and he tries to remove it with one hand, while another is still in the steering wheel, driving.

"Keep driving until I tell you." A dark, deep voice said from behind. "Follow my directions and you might end alive as well."

Richard keeps calm and obeys every single order the deep-voiced creature said.

After a few minutes, they stop in what appears to be a mix of an abandoned farm and a cemetery.

"Here we are." The creature said.

The doors suddenly open and Richard is dragged out by the remains of a female human, carrying a bow and arrows and wearing a crown and a white robe, as the car's doors are locked.

Another three dead females approach. The one with a red robe is carrying a long sword, the one dressed with a black robe carries what appears to be a weighting scale, and the last one has a scythe in its left hand and is wearing a yellow robe.

Suddenly, the four females divide into two groups and they line up just to receive a creature wearing an obscure robe. It approaches Richard, who is pointing a more aggressive-looking gun at it.

Mr. Brandt shoots it and surprise, the bullets did nothing.

"Missed me?" the creature asks, now using a somewhat familiar voice. "Missed me? Now you gotta kiss me!" he says as he removes his robe, revealing to be the Mask, wearing an Al Capone costume.

"How could it be possible for you to survive these silver bullets?" Mr. Brandt asks both annoyed and scared. "Are you using a goddamn bulletproof vest?"

"Bulletproof vest?" the green-headed maniac asks with an accent reminiscent of Capone. "I got a bulletproof brain, you idiot!" he said as an epic, scary-looking weapon appeared directly from his head. "What about you? Is your head… bulletproof?" he continues as the gun makes eerie noises.

Mr. Brandt just covers himself as the Mask shots, later revealing to be a toy gun. Instead of a bullet, it just made a 'quack' noise.

The maniac laughs and the carpenter tries to recover from the scare. By the time he sees the Mask again, he no longer has the weapon, but three dices he's playing with.

"You sir… you look like a gambling man!" the Mask said with his natural accent, even if he's still dressed as the Chicago Mobster. "Am I gonna slap you with a sack of potatoes, tomatoes, or basket balls?"

"Uhh-uh…" Richard said

Before he could even finish guessing, the Mask has three sacks, one filled with each option he said earlier and slaps the man with those as he exclaims "All of the above!"

Suddenly, he sees a few teeth in his feet. Believing is Mr. Brandt's, he smiles.

"JACKPOT! I win your teeth!" The Mask said as he takes the four teeth and gives it to each one of the 'horsewomen of the apocalypse'.

"But wait…!" he said as he spins until he's dressed as Captain Sparrow. "What do we have here?" he takes a telescope out of nowhere and starts to see at random points as Mr. Brandt's getting up and trying to clean himself. "I've spotted ya!" he said with a pirate accent. "Your past is catching up to you, Dick! And your past is so pissed off!"

The four female corpses take ropes from somewhere and tie the sexist male. They point their respective weapons, menacingly.

"P-please! I'd do anything!" Richard pleaded. "Anything you want!"

"Too late, Dick!" The Jack Sparrow imitator said as he approaches him with a sword ready to cut his neck. "You're going to pay for what you have done!"

Suddenly, the Mask face starts to turn from green to brown wood as its melting. Thinking its part of his torture and demise, Richard closes his eyes.

The sound of a tornado and the strength of the winds, accompanied by thunderbolts, start to rage in the place as the 'horsewomen of the apocalypse' transform into ashes and the wooden relic falls from his owner's face, returning Stanley back to normal.

Realizing what he did and he's exposed, he takes his mask and Mr. Brandt's vehicle. He takes the keys and turns the car on. Wanting to protect his wife and himself, Stanley takes a couple of napkins and the partially-full can of beer. He leaves the car and begins to throw it at him and leaves the beverage behind him and leaves the place quickly before he opens his eyes.

"What happened?" Stanley wonders as he's driving at the same time he puts the napkins in his blazer. "Why it suddenly stopped working?"

He sees the clock and realizes the plane is leaving in 30 minutes and the airport is just 45 minutes away from where he is.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxx

There it is, pals!

Sorry for taking long.

School's kicking our butts, so it's less probable we'll be updating this fanfic.

Because of how we're treating the fanfic, it seems it's going to be like 20-25 chapters long, plus the epilogue, not really sure.

My gramps, who slipped into a coma in January, passed away yesterday. Valentine's day was his anniversary wedding with my grandma, who died in January 6. It was going to be their 50th year together :'C In early December all the family was planning on throwing a big, awesome party for both of them.

Also, Tiger's having personal issues and she was crying yesterday. Some kiddos cheated on a partial and it appears everybody's going to get a zero. No fair. I helped her study.

BTW, we were thinking in revealing earlier the baby's gender, but we thought it'd be even better if we kept it in secret until its born :trollface:

Just a little reminder, we'll be giving this fanfic some mature tones, like treating real-life issues, you know, stuff that was considered a taboo in the TV, specially cartoons, during the 90s and earlier.

And if we f-ed up your childhood then we're sorry. That was not our intention.

Please review! We want to know what you think!

And if we had grammar mistakes, then sorry!

Happy (late) Valentine's Day!


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter XVI: Just in Time, Nottingtime

"Great," Stanley said. "Just great!" he furiously said.

Knowing he has the car of another person, one whom he loathes, Stanley decides to drive as fast as he can to where he left his car.

Seven minutes later, he arrives to the wood shop and he sees his car is still there, with the lights turned on. He cleans Richard's car and makes sure he didn't leave any evidence. He takes his crappy vehicle and leaves to the airport, with the hopes of arriving in time.

While driving as fast as a maniac, the 32-year-old man glances at his mask. He thinks by now it has recovered after scaring the hell out of his father-in-law and wants to use it to arrive in time. However, in case the thing doesn't want to work, he might either die in a car crash or lose the way, the plane, and probably his job.

He takes the wooden relic and puts it in his face.

He's lucky.

Stanley starts to spin like a crazy tornado and voila! He's the Mask again. The green-faced maniac is dressed like Speed Racer, and seconds later, the crappy car he was driving seconds earlier transforms into the Match 5.

"Stanley will so love me for helping him." The Mask said.

Meanwhile, in the airport, Mr. Dickey, Sr. is waiting for Stanley. He's starting to grow impatiently as he looks at the clock in one of the walls.

"Where are you, boy?" he mutters to himself.

Suddenly, Stanley arrives as if nothing happened.

"Sorry for the lateness, Mr. Dickey." He apologized. "My, uh… taxi had a flat tire."

"What it matters is that you're just in time, boy." He said. "Try to get a better taxi next time."

"I will, sir." Stanley replied. "By the way, what are you doing here?"

"I just wanted to make sure you'd go and arrive in time, Stanley." Mr. Dickey, Sr. said. "Now go, in five minutes the plane will leave the ground."

"Yes, sir." Stanley said as he leaves

"Remember, Edge City's reputation is in your hands!" his boss said. "It depends on you!"

-xxx-

_Edge City_

_1:20 a.m._

Peggy suddenly wakes up.

She looks at the clock. It clearly said 1:21. The female reporter sighs and tries to fall asleep. 15 minutes pass and she's still awake, not tired nor sleepy. It's the first time, while pregnant, this happens to her. She can blame the recent (emotional) stress: her father's blackmailing her, and probably knows where she or her husband live, Stanley won't be back until next week, and some reporters are keeping their distance away from her because of the temporal non-smoking policy in the Evening Star building.

She starts to believe Richard was right. The red-haired woman recalls her father's exact words were "_I won't let you to get a lot of debts and misery_." Peggy starts to think about that. The complete conversation starts to play in her mind and realizes what he really meant. He didn't want her to be happy. The man was, and is still, trying to make her think she'll be in a worse economical condition if she married. Truth is, he was planning to… sell her to the son of one of his sexist friends.

The guy's an asshole.

A goddamn piece of bullcrap.

And so the people he hangs around with.

Luckily, she's not aware about what Richard originally planned for her. If she didn't marry Stanley… stuff could have got worse for her. She would have been forced to be the wife, or slave, whatever it applies, of a (possible) sexist.

Peggy decides her father's a total jackass and is wrong about her marriage with a man 'who was not good enough for her daughter'.

She looks at the clock again.

2:40 a.m.

Suddenly, she turns her head to the other side of the bed and feels there's something missing.

To be precise, there's someone missing… in her life.

After Stanley and Peggy got married, they started to spend the night together, not mattering if it was in his or her apartment. It was frequent. Having his arm resting in her waist, hugging her as his hand touched her belly, trying to feel the forming baby, the man staying very close to her in a spoon position. Waking up was the better part. She just turned her head a bit to see him, sleeping peacefully with a smile drawn in his face.

The red-haired female rests her arm in her waist and feels nothing. Maybe she's feeling alone.

She glances at Milo, who's sleeping in the couch.

"Psst. Milo." She said, trying to wake him up. "Milo."

The dog wakes up and looks at his owner's wife, curious and sleepy.

"Could you please sleep with me?" She said. "I'm starting to feel alone."

The dog leaves the couch and makes his way to the bed.

"Thanks, Milo." She said as she pets his head. "You're the best."

The dog yawns as a reply and goes back to sleep.

-xxx-

_London, England_

_Some hours later…_

The plane is finally landing.

Stanley can't believe he's in the other side of the world.

London is far more crowded than Edge City and maybe that contributes to the famed politeness of the English. The houses are generally smaller and amazingly expensive. The weather is governed by depressions blowing in from the Atlantic, which bring rain, so the west of the country tends to be wetter than the east. It can be very unpredictable, so many have given up on the weather forecasts, and anyway most of the time rain comes as a short, sharp shower… or at least where London is.

Stanley takes his suitcases and starts to search for someone; since he's aware the bank here arranged an escort for him.

Suddenly, he falls in front of two females, dressed very classy and discrete. One of them, the blond one, helps the American male to get up.

"Looks like you've had a bumpy flight." The blonde said

"Thanks for helping me." Stanley said. "I'm Stanley Ipkiss, by the way." He introduced himself. "Now, if you could excuse me..."

"You're the one who's representing Edge City, from the United States?" the other female asks

"Yes, yes I am." Stanley replies

"We're your escort." The female brunette continues. "The Bank sent us for you. We're assistants of the Bank President."

"Follow us. You're just in time." The blonde woman said.

Stanley follows the two gorgeous women to the exit.

They get inside the car, and just as the blonde female starts to drive, he panics.

"Look out! You're driving on the wrong side of the road!" he exclaimed as he fastened his seatbelt.

"Mr. Ipkiss , this is the lane we drive in here." The other female said."Don't panic. You'll get used to it."

Stanley relieves a bit and feels ashamed.

"It's okay. Not many Americans know about it." The brunette continued. "Oh, where are our manners? We never introduced ourselves." She said. "My name's Bonnelyn Radcliffe. Or Bonnie, for short."

"And mine's Julie Carmichael." The female blonde said. "A pleasure to meet you."

"You must be tired, Mr. Ipkiss." Bonnie said. "We'll just stop at the bank so the Bank President can meet you."

"I'm fine with it." Stanley replied

After a long while, they arrive to the bank.

The building is like two times bigger than Edge City's Bank. There are a lot of people going into and leaving the place.

The Bank President's assistants and Stanley leave the car and go to the building.

They walk to the office, where the Bank President is. He's a middle-aged man with greying hair.

"Mr. Radcliffe, we've arrived." Julie said to the older male.

"Oh, just in time." Mr. Radcliffe said as he approaches the two females and greets them. He moves to Stanley and shakes his hand. "You must be the Stanley Ipkiss I've heard a lot of. I hope my daughter and her friend weren't too talkative with you." He chuckles.

"Uhm, no, Mr. Radcliffe." Stanley said. "Any problem at all."

"Good to hear that." The British male said. "My name's Benedict Radcliffe and, as the Bank President, Mr. Ipkiss, I must thank you for attending to this matter personally." Mr. Radcliffe said. "I trust you've enjoyed your visit to London thus far."

"Well, Mr. Radcliffe," Stanley said while shaking his hand. "I've got to admit it's been one for the album."

Mr. Radcliffe chuckles.

"Oh, the American humours." The Bank President said. "You must be tired, Mr. Ipkiss. Why don't you go to the hotel and rest a bit? The reunion starts tomorrow and therefore, the transaction."

"Okay, then." Stanley said a bit relieved. "Ta-Rah?" he said as he left.

"You know, girls." He said. "When Mr. Dickey told me he was sending an employee with the Buzan's MindMapping Certificate, I imagined he'd be around my age or older." He starts to chuckle. "This kid's a lucky guy."

Ten minutes later, Stanley arrives to the hotel room, accompanied by a hotel clerk, and notices it's pretty fancy.

"Wow." He said. "This is one of the cheapest rooms you have?"

"Actually, sire," the clerk said with a heavy British accent. "This is one of the fanciest rooms we have here. Mr. Radcliffe called us earlier and paid a bit more for you to stay in this room." He entered with the suitcases. "Follow me. I will give you a tour."

The clerk leaves the suitcases near the bed and explains Stanley a bit of London as they're walking around the room. Moments later, the clerk leaves.

The brown-haired man goes to the window and admires the panoramic view. He smiles a bit and decides he prefers this city way more than Edge City. Then, he starts to unpack part of his stuff and takes a couple of papers related to the time zone and the schedule of the important reunions at the Bank of England. He takes the alarm clock and programs it to wake him up early the next day.

Stanley sits in the bed and feels it's a bit hard like the beds in many hotels at the (American) cities he has travelled before. He lies down in the bed. It's fresh and lemon-scented. He suddenly falls asleep.

Three hours later, he wakes up and decides to have a little fun. Stanley takes the mask and puts it on. He starts to spin like a crazy tornado, with his clothes turning from blue to yellow as his head's turning bald and green.

After a while, it stops, revealing to be the creature just known as the Mask.

"He-he-heeeeeeey!" the Mask said. "This room is really fancy. I wonder where I am."

He looks at his surroundings and, ignoring the Big Ben, he starts to believe he's in France.

"Oh, I know!" he said and spins until he's in his French man attire. "Now to hit on some French candent babes." He said with a French accent and leaves the hotel.

He starts being cool as the English people look at him with weirdly. The Mask is aware of this and realizes he's in the wrong place, so he changes his attire to a fancy, royal-looking one.

"Much better, don't ya think?" he speaks with a crappy British accent, scaring the people who were around. "I think they don't like the _colour_ red."

He starts to hear awesome music coming from a night club. The green faced-man turns around and sees the place. Suddenly, a grin appears in his face.

He enters to the club, named the _Hangingdale_, and tries to party on like all the Coco Bongo nights. For his surprise, the Britons don't party like animals like Americans do. The music is boring, or at least for him. The DJ's playing music from companies who develop soundtracks for films and he's mixing it to get an epic tone. The teens and young adults love it and keep dancing akin the rhythm.

Suddenly, a female teen approaches the disappointed green-headed maniac.

"Hey, mister." She said. "Why so _naff_?"

"I don't know what you said, kiddo." The Mask replied. "If you mean sad, then, yes, I am. But it's because you're having fun with boring music."

She giggles.

"It's not boring if you feel the music in you." She said as she starts to dance. "Your accent is funny. You're American, am I right?"

"Well, yes… or that's what I think."

She starts to laugh.

"Mister green-face," she continued. "How exactly are parties in America?"

The Mask grins a bit and suddenly runs to where the DJ is. He removes the record disks and replaces it with his own.

"Just play the music." He said to the DJ and then directed to the rest of the people. "Let's rock this joint!"

The DJ plays the music and, satisfied with it, the Mask leaps down onto the dance floor and starts dancing like an epic professional. The Britons are impressed by this and start to imitate him. The music gets more rocky and catchier as the doormats are transforming into the party animals they had inside.

Suddenly, the Mask starts to feel weird. His face is becoming darker, and then brown. Luckily for him, the people were distracted dancing they didn't notice the Mask leaving the club as he is transforming back to Stanley.

"What? Where am I?" Stanley said while looking at his surroundings. "I have no memory of this place." He then realizes it was the Mask. "_Shoot_. Now I'm lost." He mumbles as he puts the wooden relic inside his blazer and starts to walk, thinking he'd find a way back to the hotel.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxx

There it is, pals!

Sorry for taking long.

School's kicking our butts, so it's less probable we'll be updating this fanfic.

Because of how we're treating the fanfic, it seems it's going to be like 20-25 chapters long, plus the epilogue.

By the way, Tiger and I decided we want to play a game XD (Saw reference xDDD) Anyways, the next chapters will be having hints of the baby's gender. Keep in mind Peggy's carrying one, so have fun trying to figure the gender from the hints we will be giving ;D

Just a little reminder, we'll be giving this fanfic some mature tones, like treating real-life issues, you know, stuff that was considered a taboo in the TV, specially cartoons, during the 90s and earlier.

And if we f-ed up your childhood then we're sorry. That was not our intention.

Please review! We want to know what you think!

And if we had grammar mistakes, then sorry!


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter XVII: The Mask no more

_London, England_

_Noon_

Stanley's with Mr. Radcliffe and other members of his staff. They're discussing topics about the economy and the rise and fall of the English Pounds and American Dollars and the possible consequences of the alliance of the Bank of England and Edge City's Bank. The 32-year-old man is a bit sleepy, but active. He had troubles with finding his hotel, since he couldn't remember the name of the streets.

"So, Mr. Ipkiss," Mr. Radcliffe said. "Are you ready for the intensive 4-day training you're going to receive?"

"Totally." He replies.

"Excellent." The Bank President said as he gives him a manual and an instruction booklet. "I must tell you, the test is at the end of the fourth day. You should read and learn the important parts of the manual. After you pass, the transaction will be complete, all thanks to you. In case you do not pass… well… we won't ally with Edge City's Bank as promised. It all depends on you."

"Thanks, Mr. Radcliffe." Stanley replied, a bit scared off

"By the way, the class starts in a couple of hours." Mr. Radcliffe continues. "Room 237. Don't be late."

"I won't." he replies and leaves.

_Two hours later…_

Stanley has already read the first 6 chapters of the 400-page-long book. He seems he learned a lot, since the English system is way more advanced, effective and precise than the American system.

Now, he's in the room 237, putting attention to the class, alongside his classmates, who were college students. Most of the females.

He's taking notes and is trying not to get distracted.

The recess finally starts and decides to interact with the others.

"Hi there." He said to a group of guys. "How's it going?"

"Uhm, fine, I guess." One of them replied. "You're the one who's from America, right?"

"Yes, I am." Stanley replies

"Are you a bit surprised we're way more advanced than you guys back there?" another one said. "No offense, by the way."

"I'm very surprised about your system." Stanley said. "If Edge City was able to adopt it, we would save a lot of money in some of the legal en economical movements we do every day. Perhaps, the economy could get better."

"It's like the Prime Minister said once," a red-haired British said. "The end of the 90s will welcome the new Era… or something like that." He chuckled

"Imagine how the world will be in the 2010, that if there's no 'End of the World' when we arrive to the year 2000". Another snickered.

"I don't believe it's going to happen." Stanley chuckles and joins the group. "Back in Edge City, there are monstrous villains who are always attacking the city."

"It sounds like fiction." One of them said.

"But it's real." Stanley continued. "And we have an _unofficial_ superhero. A green-headed guy who's just known as 'The Mask'".

"You said 'green-head'?" one of them, the brown-haired one, asked

"Of course." The American male replies

"Yesterday, at the Hangingdale, a nightclub, I saw a green-headed guy who said our music was boring and… he replaced our music with his... egad, I've never had a lot of fun and strong headaches."

"So… you were partying like… wild?" Stanley asks

"Totally." He replies. "Do you know if he's the same Mask?"

"I'm not really sure. Sorry for not knowing that." Mr. Ipkiss replied

"It's ok. Don't worry." One of them replied. "I think we have to go back to the room. Recess' going to finish in a couple of minutes. Want to come with us?"

"Oh, sure. Thanks." Stanley replies and follows them.

With recess being over, the intensive training begins.

-xxx-

_London_

_The next week…._

The very important international transaction is complete.

The Bank of England and Edge City's Bank are now forming an alliance.

The week for Stanley was not the easiest one. He had to read all the chapters of the manual and make mindmaps for each one.

Aside of that, his alter ego, the Mask, has transformed all of London's nightclubs into 'American' nightclubs. The teenagers are now having ten times more fun, their taste of music changed dramatically, and so their manners and dancing. However, the effect of being the green-headed maniac lasted less and less, and Stanley doesn't know why. He thinks the machine that exploded back in Edge City has to do something with it. But that doesn't even explain why it lasted a lot when he bugged Kellaway and company a lot.

Now, Stanley Ipkiss is being congratulated by Mr. Radcliffe, along with his staff and classmates, who didn't take the test he had to due to their age.

"You don't have the idea of what you did, am I right, Mr. Ipkiss?" The Bank President asked. Before Stanley could even reply, he continued. "You just pushed Edge City to the new century. Mr. Dickey is going to be very proud of having such a smart employee like you."

Stanley gets a bit red and doesn't know what to say about that.

"It doesn't matter if you don't have anything to say. I understand you're nervous, boy." Mr. Radcliffe said. "Imagine this, you, tomorrow… back in Edge City, being congratulated by your workmates and boss. You have a great future, my man. And you have an advantage… you're still young. 32, right?"

"Yes, sir." Stanley replies.

"Come on, join us in this small party we did for the success of having not only an alliance with an American Bank, but a new contact." Mr. Radcliffe said.

Mr. Ipkiss joins them and he's surprised none of the employees drink alcohol, but tea. Lots and lots of tea.

"I hope you don't mind drinking a lighter beverage." Mr. Radcliffe said as he was serving himself some green tea.

"On the contrary, sir." Stanley said. "It's an honour. I don't drink alcohol nor go to the pubs. It's not me."

"You know, Stanley, I wish every employee was like you. Smart, dedicated, responsible. Do me a favour and stay like that forever."

"I will, Mr. Radcliffe." Stanley replied as he sips his cup. "I will."

That afternoon, Mr. Ipkiss packed his stuff from the hotel and left to the airport, ready to return to Edge City.

The plane finally leaves the ground and Stanley starts to meditate the mask's sudden change. He, unlike other times, partially remembers his actions as the wacky superhero. He starts to remember hanging out at another nightclub in London, called the_ Fox Hole,_ which was way more adult than the _Hangingdale_ or the _Leaky Pineapple_, hitting on some attractive women and even sharing some drinks with them. Fortunately, nothing else happened between the Mask and the females, except that he taught them some funky dance moves. Oh, man. He wouldn't forgive his alter ego if he happened to have slept with other females.

Realizing what he's thinking, the 32-year-old starts to think in a reason why the wooden mask is not working as it should. What if the machine has nothing to do?

He starts to recall the reverse therapy treatment he did a long time ago. It worked and it was like a huge benefit; acting like the green-faced maniac was the answer to be more successful and optimistic, but it left the Mask so powerless the wooden relic's effect lasted just a short while or nothing.

Leaving the Mask topic for a while, he starts to think in other things, such as episodes of cartoons he likes. A while later, he starts to think in his wife, his only female friend. As of sudden, Stanley starts to feel 'butterflies' in his stomach. He tries to detour those mental images he has of his wife, but fails. He admits he likes her smile, her hair, her eyes... its turning him crazy for her. He's focusing on Peggy as overwhelming warmth develops all over his body, his heart is beating fast, and 'tons and tons of butterflies' are dancing inside him, taking over him. He has felt that before, and that was when he was in High School. Every time he saw Vicky Pratt, his crush, he felt that… but now not.

This time is stronger.

Stanley starts to remember the good moments he shared with his now wife, before getting married. She has saved him a lot of times and was there for him when no one was, they can trust each other…

He feels he'll never be able to breathe without her around, and knows, if something happens to her, he'll avenge her seriously, even if he has to murder someone just to make sure she's safe.

Stanley Ipkiss is actually falling in love with Peggy Brandt.

He's confused.

And the only person who can help him to clear his mind is his therapist, Dr. Neumann.

-xxx-

_Many hours later…_

Stanley has finally arrived to Edge City.

He missed the city a bit and can't wait to see his wife. However, first things are first, and that is making a 'small' visit to Dr. Neumann.

Mr. Ipkiss goes to his car and drives to his therapist's office, thinking he'd still be there at this hours. Luckily for him, Arthur's there, cleaning his office before retiring to his home.

"Dr. Neumann!" Stanley said.

Dr. Neumann sighs and shakes his head in disgust.

"Mr. Ipkiss, do you have any idea of the time it is?" he asks

"Actually, no." the brown-haired man replies. "I need your help."

"Like the previous times?"

"This one is different. I swear."

"If I help you, you won't come back at this hour or phone me to help you, right?"

"A promise."

"Fine, fine. Let's get started before I regret it."

Stanley sits in the divan as Dr. Neumann starts to attend him. He's putting the enough attention to what his patient is telling him. Right he was. Unlike the previous sessions, Mr. Ipkiss is different this time. He can tell he's maturing, slower, but at least it was something.

Arthur starts to analyze what he's being told and, unfortunately, doesn't see the 'real' problem.

"Mr. Ipkiss, I don't really find a problem at all." The therapist said. "You seem perfectly fine to me. Everything you're feeling it's in your mind… however, I recall you mentioned you can't sleep. Insecurity? Tension in the marriage? Your wife wants the divorce?"

"It's about…" Stanley sighs. "I dream I'm… some kind of powerful superhero. I'm fighting crime, when suddenly, my powers go off."

Dr. Neumann starts to analyze the bank clerk's 'dream'.

After a couple of seconds, he comes up with something.

"Mr. Ipkiss," he said. "Maybe you should move on. Something's telling me "the Mask", is trying to take total control of this new stage of your life using nightmares as a source, making you doubt about every single thing you make. I remember you said you recently felt loving your wife for the first time. Believe me, Stanley, if there's no love in the marriage, it will soon crack and fall. And when I saw both of you in the altar… well, something's saying to me you're going to stay together for a very long time, unless that outrageous and impulsive imaginary friend of yours decides to split the relation. Remember, you'll always have a choice."

"A choice." Stanley whispers.

"Of all the times we talked of honesty, psychology… I counted on you to have the courage, to take your desires out into the world. As I see, you want to progress without leaving the Mask. It's ironic, since it's the one who causes you the problems you are bearing."

"I can't live with that 'imaginary friend' anymore." Stanley said. "I want a life of my own."

"And your choice? What is it?"

Stanley starts to meditate. Many things have happened since the night he found the mask. He has a better perspective of the things, he feels (a bit) less stressed, and for 'once' in his 32 years his life is a bit exciting. The bank clerk, before being the green-faced wacky superhero, was always described as 'repressed'. Now, or just for Dr. Neumann, Stanley is just 'blocking the wild man wanting to get out'.

The brown-haired man wants to get rid of the mask, but he can't. It's better for everybody to be kept by him rather than being in wrong hands.

Five minutes later, the bank clerk looks at his therapist's eyes and, with confidence, finally reveals his choice.

"I'm just Stanley Ipkiss." He said. "I'm the Mask no more."

Dr. Neumann nods at the same time he smiles. He finally sees Stanley decided to get rid of that 'imaginary friend' of his.

"Congratulations, Mr. Ipkiss." He said. "You've just taken the best decision you have ever taken."

-xxx-

_Midnight_

Stanley's driving to the bridge. He's very firm about his decision. Le looks at the co-pilot seat. There's a fairly new, small, iron-made box, with a lot of chains and locks surrounding it.

The man finally arrives and turns off his car. He leaves it, along with the heavy box. Mr. Ipkiss looks at both sides of the road and runs to the end of the bridge, then, he goes down the slippery embankment beneath the bridge. He steps on and he ducks under an old ladder that leans against the bridge's foundation as he finally reaches the shore.

Stanley looks down at the box as a wave of melancholy and nostalgia sweeps over him. This is the place where he found the mask for the first time, when it was floating along a lot of thrash, thinking at first it was a body, an unconscious or dead one.

And this is the place where he's going to get rid of it.

Stanley shakes his head in determination, still nostalgic.

"This is it." He mutters.

He takes a deep breathe and, with both hands, throws the box into the river and watches as it drowns down to the river, to never be seen again.

"No more." Stanley said

He leaves the place as if nothing happened.

While he's driving, he starts to cry all out of sudden, just letting the tears to leave his face, the drops racing until they meet their fate in his shirt.

Even if it's what he didn't (actually) want, it was the best. To move on. One of the things he learned back in London was letting the respective personnel to be responsible. It's not fair for him to do all the work while the police is there, scratching their tummies. The city has to evolve. The new century is just a few years away, the phones are evolving, and a new era is going to engulf everyone.

He calms himself a couple of minutes later and tries to keep it cool. Now, he's driving to his mother's house. He's lucky he still has the keys of it, just in case.

He opens the door, slowly and trying not to wake anyone, and enters. He closes the door and sees his mother is there, waiting for him. Stanley goes to hug her and she does the same.

"I missed you a lot." Mildred said.

"And so do I." he replied. "How long have you been awake?"

"A couple of hours." She replies. "I was reading at first, and then I heard your car."

Peggy approaches the scene and a lot of emotions surround her as she sees her husband again. She hurries and hugs him and he kisses her as he rubs her belly.

"Hi, Peg." He said. "How's it going?"

"Fine." She smiled. "I missed you a lot."

After hearing this, the male is now aware Peggy also feels something for him.

Maybe there's actual, genuine love between them after all.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxx

There it is, pals!

Sorry for taking long.

School's kicking our butts, so it's less probable we'll be updating this fanfic.

Well… it seems not only the machine had the fault. Stanley himself also had to do with it. Admit it, he seems he's 'maturing', leaving behind what made him what he's today… kind of.

Just a little reminder, we'll be giving this fanfic some mature tones, like treating real-life issues, you know, stuff that was considered a taboo in the TV, specially cartoons, during the 90s and earlier.

And if we f-ed up your childhood then we're sorry. That was not our intention.

Please review! We want to know what you think!

And if we had grammar mistakes, then sorry!


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N pt. 1**– Hey there! Tiger and I had since weeks ago a great part of this chapter already written, but school trolled us :'c .

Anyways, onto the show!

Chapter XVIII: One week left

The months pass quickly.

Things have gotten better.

At first, Peggy didn't took well Stanley's decision about getting rid of the wooden mask, since it was the only thing that made her work a bit more exciting than usual. He gave his reasons and still, was a bit hard to accept it. Like a week later, she finally calmed down, meditated it again, and told him it was one of the best things he has ever done.

At the same time, Stanley, who got promoted to Chief Executive Assistant soon after his return, and Peggy moved to another apartment not so far from his old one. Also, they admitted, to themselves, they have developed feelings towards each other. How ironic their plan seemed to backfire at some point, but they didn't feel like it.

Richard hasn't been around, since he was arrested because of 'non-sensed, apocalyptic aliens' and 'disturbing the peace'. What it helped more to put him in jail was his strong smell of alcohol.

And the city, well… since the Mask, according to Kellaway, disappeared for good, the police has been forced to improve their skills and tactics. The crime in Edge City lowered a lot and there was less disaster than usual. Speaking of the Lieutenant, he took two weeks off work to spend it with his wife and daughters. At first, they thought it was going to be some kind of joke due to him staying a few seconds with them and reporting to duty seconds later in the past. The last time Mitch saw his daughters, or how he remembers them, was when they were around 4-6 years. They're actually in their early teens. It seems he missed a lot of birthdays, celebrations and more, but, at least, his wife forgave him, and so Susan and Debbie. He even taught them how to use a gun, much to Margaret's dismay.

Edge City's evolving. Thanks to their alliance with the Bank of England, all and each one of Edge City's Bank employees has been taken to special centres in Stark Town to be trained like 'the British people they should be'. Their system changed drastically, they were using less money in investments to obtain huge profits, new laws started to emerge, such as recycling and that kind of stuff, the educational system was modified because it was, according to Ms. Bonnelyn Radcliffe, Mr. Radcliffe's daughter and also one of the representatives of education in the UK, so 1500's.

Peggy's pregnancy has progressed and she doesn't appear to enjoy it. Her back hurts a lot, her mood changes constantly (she even threatened Stanley of killing him a couple of times), her breasts are getting a bit bigger, luckily, her bras still fit her, and her baby bump gets a bit more pronounced, not like in a common woman, though. The size of it keeps convincing Stanley he's going to be the father of a girl (unknown to her, the 33-year-old man even calls the baby 'Erin').

While doing her job, she had been spending her time inside rather than outside, because it was more likely for her to be harmed.

Sometime later, Ramsey granted her maternity leave, much to her delight (she was tired of being in the building checking notes and updating already existing articles).

Everything seems fine for the couple.

However, one of Peggy's brothers, Elliot, has been suspecting something since the day he properly met Stanley. At first he didn't give a damn, since he's been a bit stressed due to his jobs. During his free time, he works as a photographer and photography teacher. All that stuff made him to forget his suspicions, but these resurfaced recently.

Since he's worried about her, he decides to confront his sister, even if she tells him he's intruding her life. He dials her number and tells her he wants to see her at his house alone.

An hour later, she arrives.

Her older brother looks a bit worried and firm, more the second than the first.

"Is something wrong?" she asks

After a long silence, he replies with a question.

"How long have you been pregnant?" Elliot asks firmly

"I'm almost hitting the eighth month." Peggy said

"Sister, I'm a photographer, a psychologist, and a teacher. One of my jobs makes me deal with pregnant women and believe me; your bump might not be big enough to determine your pregnancy months, but how you walk can." He said as he approaches her. "You were already pregnant when you told us about your marriage, weren't you? And you're nearing the ninth month, am I right?"

An awkward silence later, she nods, quietly.

He gasps lightly.

"Peggy, please tell me the truth." He said as he lowers eye-to-eye, since he's a bit taller than her. "Did Stanley force you to… _do it_?"

"No. I was." She replies

"Why? Are you sure you're not protecting him?"

"I'm not protecting him. I influenced him to. He… he first said sweet things about what he'd do if he had a girlfriend, like protecting her and more things. And then… it's like I was already in love with him but I didn't know… or I really wanted him to be mine… because… that turned me on, come on, you should understand." she continued, sort of confused

"Why did you get married?" he asks a bit worried

"It was a solution he came up with. I… at first I…"

"Yes?"

"I wanted to make an abortion." She said in a low voice

"What?" he said blankly

"B-but then he found out and stopped me in time. He convinced me to marry him and now… I think… I really love him… and I don't want to kill my baby. I want to raise it. It deserves an opportunity."

"Calm down, sis. It's okay. I understand." He said. "I just wanted to know the truth; to make sure he is what you said he is."

"You didn't trust him?"

"You never had a good taste in men." He giggled a bit. "Eugene, Christopher…"

"I know."

"Peggy, you know I'm protective over you because no one else was. I'm almost a real father for you. Tobey and I made a promise to each other when you were very young: to look out after you. I don't really want know what would have happened if we decided to follow Dad's footsteps."

The pregnant woman smiles a bit with a couple of tears leaving her face.

"Remember…" Elliot continues. "If you need to talk with someone or you need to be comforted, I'm always open for you." He hugs his sister. "You know your secrets; everything you tell me will stay here."

"Thanks, Elliot." She thanked her brother

She leaves and goes to her apartment, where her husband is.

"Hey, Peggy." He said as he leaves some bills in the table and goes to hug her. "How was your day? Had a good walk?"

"Kind of, but it was good." She replied as she kissed him in the cheek.

"That's cool." He replied. "Look the good side, you won't be back to work for a long while."

She giggled. "I'll go to bed and rest a couple of hours, or maybe more."

"Okay, then. I'll just check the bills and prepare myself for the next week." He said as he rubs her belly. _I can't really wait to have Erin in my arms._

Peggy leaves to the room as Stanley takes the bills and starts to analyze them.

-xxx-

Both husband and wife are sleeping. It's around 2:00 am. The silence is surrounding the department.

Peggy wakes up in a second, like if she suddenly got surprised about something. She starts to feel strange. She puts a hand on her belly.

Her baby's kicking.

She's suddenly no longer sleepy.

For a moment, she starts to feel she can hear every noise around: the sink, a few cars passing by, Milo's snoring, Stanley's breathing, and her heart working harder.

She's at least relieved she's carrying one and not two or more. That'd be a nightmare for someone who doesn't tolerate kids. She has to deal with her child once it's born and growing up, anyways. Sometimes the solution the receptionist offered her when the pregnancy test turned positive crossed her mind. However, she knows there's not a way back once she does it. Adding also Stanley will not forgive her and he'll fill up for a divorce, and probably a restriction order.

Her baby kicks again.

She starts to wonder if Stanley actually wants to be a father.

The way he found out was not even the appropriate one. Maybe if she arrived around five minutes earlier nothing of this would have happened. However, it might have been worse. Sooner or later, he might have found out about it.

She starts to think a lot of things. Then, anxiety strikes. She begins to worry about her baby's health and becomes anxious about her abilities as a parent. What if she doesn't raise it well? What if the child decides not to mind her? What would she do if her kid doesn't make it and dies? What if the offspring dies before even being birthed?

These kinds of questions are spinning around her head at the same time she puts her hands around the bulge. It seems she actually cares about her unborn child… maybe just a bit.

She suddenly realises she's having 'nocturnal' mood swings.

Peggy sighs in a bit relieve.

"Just one more week." She said. "Please little one, be easy to handle. I don't want to lose my patience while raising you." She mumbles.

The baby kicks one more time.

The red-haired reporter sighs and tries to get asleep.

An hour later, Stanley wakes up. He notes Peggy's sleeping, facing towards him. Carefully, he puts one of his hands in her bulge.

"Erin, my little girl." He said under his breath, very sure about the gender of his offspring. "I can't wait to meet you. The rest of the family can't wait."

He quietly laughs as he rests a cheek in his wife's belly.

Stanley's very aware his wife and him haven't discussed a name for their baby. Peggy might have thought on a name by this time. When he told it to his friends at the Bank he was going to be a father, Charlie advised him to look forward to a boy, since they were stronger, the last name stays with them forever, and they make friends easily, especially when wearing the same clothes, among other sexist-sounding reasons. Chase, on the other hand, told him it is way easier to control a girl than a boy and they are clean and smart by nature. He also added a small bump is a good, strong sign that means his wife is carrying a female, much to his delight.

Stanley kisses Peggy's bump and goes back to sleep.

As he said before, just one more week and he'll be the happiest father in the whole world.

-xxx-

_Meanwhile…_

_Edge City's Prison_

Richard's being accompanied by two bulky guards to the interrogation room, also used as the declaration room sometimes. He's using an orange jumpsuit, his glasses are a bit damaged, not broken, and he's using handcuffs.

They finally arrive. Captain Riegert, who is in charge of the ECPD, sees him and tells him to sit down. As Mr. Brandt is sitting down, the Captain takes a folder containing forms and legal stuff having to do with his imprisonment and why is he applying to bailing.

He starts to interrogate him.

After an hour or so, the Captain releases him on bail with a warning. Richard agrees to the terms and conditions and is set free.

Before leaving, Captain Riegert gives him the things Mr. Brandt had with him when he was jailed.

As Richard is leaving the station, he notices there's something else stuck in his keys: a single, small piece of brown hair.

He observes it for a while and approaches a street light to see it better. Yes, brown coloured, and there's only one person with that hair-colour he knows or he can think of.

"Stannard." He vengefully said under his breath.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

There it is, pals!

Sorry for taking long.

Because of how we're treating the fanfic, it seems it's going to be like 20-25 chapters long, plus the epilogue.

And yes, Richard not getting Stanley's name might be a recurrent gag or something.

Almost forgetting, my friend and I grew sick of this fandom, especially her. It was nice to remember the Mask. That doesn't mean we're going to cancel the fanfic. We're a few chapters near the end, anyway xD.

Just a little reminder, we'll be giving this fanfic some mature tones, like treating real-life issues, you know, stuff that was considered a taboo in the TV, specially cartoons, during the 90s and earlier.

And if we f-ed up your childhood then we're sorry. That was not our intention.

Please review! We want to know what you think!

And if we had grammar mistakes, then sorry!


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: Well... It's been almost a month since I last updated. Been busy in RL :U We're just some chapters away from the end! Yay!  
Oh, and I'll submit 2 chapters today!  
Anyways, onto the show!**

Chapter XIX: Break

A couple of days later, Peggy receives an invitation to her High School reunion. She's not sure if she's going, since the place might not bring her good memories. She discusses it with her husband, and agrees to go with her if she wants to. And Peggy does.

That afternoon they go to Edge City's High School. Hasn't changed a bit since she studied there. People are getting in, some of them wearing expensive tuxedos, others wearing casual clothes, and the rest formal. The couple finally arrive. Stanley's using a dark-gray suit, while Peggy's using a good-looking red dress. The 33-year-old man knows he might not see a familiar face, since he's 'a bit' older than the generation's reunion.

Stanley and Peggy are having fun in the reunion.

In the meanwhile, Richard has finally located where his daughter and husband live. He's so far unaware of Peggy's pregnancy and aware of Stanley's involvement in the 'alien thingies' back at the abandoned farm-like cemetery. He doesn't know how, but he's so sure he has something to do with it thanks to the piece of hair he found between his belongings.

His blood is boiling with the urge of vengeance.

Not only was he imprisoned. He was fired and lost his job as a police informant. Adding also the police didn't believe him about Peggy's involvement with Eugene Rapaz, since there was no evidence pointing to her and the source was filed as irrelevant. Journals written by teenagers often contained non-sensed or imaginary stuff, such as being the most kicking-ass mobster ever lived, or a serial killer working for the cops.

Being a carpenter didn't help him to earn more money. He couldn't sell his blood because he has a tattoo, and couldn't force Tobey because "it's not his job".

However, money was not a big deal so far.

His thirst for revenge was kicking him, turning him crazy.

And he knows what to do.

-x-x-x-

Some hours later, around 5 o'clock, Stanley and Peggy finally leave Edge City High School. The reunion was not bad after all. Many of the then-popular-and-handsome students were ugly as crap, while the nerds and the often-ignored ones were good-looking or had a better life.

"It wasn't so bad after all, right Peg?" Stanley asks

"I think I was just scared at first." She replies. "Maybe I was expecting someone to be there."

"Eugene?"

"Probably." She said. "I never dumped him."

"I think you did." He chuckles. "You married me."

She giggles.

"You know what I liked more?" she continues. "That I have a better life than that Liz Jameson."

"It's ironic how the most popular girl from your generation got an… awful look." He said. "You look the same."

"Almost. I just matured."

She suddenly sees there's something wrong in the street they live. Stanley notices too and they park near their now destroyed place.

They get out of the car and approach to see the scene: broken wall and door, the windows were obviously vandalized, and there was a lot of graffiti.

Peggy tries to keep it calm, while Stanley's looking for evidence. He spots a familiar car and tries not to burn in rage. He furiously sighs and searches for the driver.

Richard finally appears, as if nothing happened.

"Whoops." He said, looking at the disaster. "I had some drinks to take the pressure off, but I guess I might have overdone it a little." He lies and chuckles like a devil at the same time he looks at his daughter with disgust as he notes her belly.

"You did this to get back at me for not giving you the money? Because I'm finally happy after 27 years? Or because I'm not the 'boy' you wanted?" Peggy asks furiously

"Oh… talk about paranoid. But then maybe you've got reason to be. It must be that a lot of people hate you for all the problems you've caused, like writing lies in the newspaper to get a better pay." Richard said

"How can you even say that to me?" she asks

"You playing 'house' with your stupid husband and you won't even help out back your own father!"

"Because I don't want to! You never helped me out when I needed you!"

"You got any idea what it's like to be a carpenter? To be the father of an infamous newspaper reporter? You're a goddamn curse, you ungrateful accident!"

She gasps as Stanley gets angered enough and approaches Richard.

"That's enough, dick." He said to him

"You stay out of this." Richard replies, mishearing the insult. "This is family business."

"I'm already family." Stanley replies, still angered. "I'm the husband of your daughter."

Richard ignores him and continues verbally hurting Peggy at the same time he approaches her, menacingly.

"You know you kill everything you touch, don't you? Everybody would have been better; a lot better if I killed you when I had the chance soon after you were born. Just choking you for a couple of minutes would've been enough."

Peggy starts to sob. Richard looks her daughter's baby bump.

"I hope that rat inside you dies along with you."

Suddenly, a hand takes Richard off her. He turns his head to see who it is. It's Tobey. It appears he arrived when his father told her that.

"Get out of here." He menaces his father as he is still grabbing his neck and cutting the pass of the oxygen. "Now."

Richard gets scared enough and Tobey stops choking him. He catches some air and looks at his son with intimidating eyes. The black-haired man doesn't look intimidated by him.

"I said what I had to say." He glances at her daughter, who is still crying and being comforted by Stanley.

Richard leaves in his car as if nothing happened and the black-haired male sees him leaving.

"It's fine. Forget what he said." Stanley continues comforting her.

Peggy continues crying.

"No, it's not okay." She sobs

Stanley remembered the promise he told Peggy that stormy night at her apartment. He wants to avenge her again. This time is for serious. He gets motivated even more thanks to her sobbing. She can't stop.

After a short while, Tobey arrives.

"Stanley, help me to take her with Elliot." He said.

Both males help the pregnant woman to stand up and leave on their respective cars.

-xxx-

It's been a couple of hours.

They're waiting in the living room. Elliot took his sister to his bedroom to try to calm her down. Tobey seems even more worried than Stanley, probably because he saw how Richard treated Peggy when they were young. The then little boy ended crying and then grounded because 'men don't cry'.

Suddenly memories start to resurface, and each one was worse than the last as Tobey's lust for revenge and patricide get intense.

Stanley notes him.

"Are you alright?" the bank clerk asks

"I'm not sure." Tobey replies. "I don't know if I arrived late or just in time to stop him."

"You arrived in time. I don't know what would have happened."

"Why are you so calm? My sister is your wife!"

"I might look calm, but believe me, I'm angry. I'm the rage." He lightly growled. "I have a plan. I know how to teach him a lesson."

"How? Believe me, he'll skin you alive!"

"I never said I was going to kill him. I have someone else. He's qualified for it."

Tobey sighs and he's not sure if to believe Stanley or not.

"Say, why you were around when Richard was attacking Peggy?" the brunette male asks

"Mom said he left to finish a 'pending business'. That didn't sound like a good thing and I tried to locate him. After taking a wrong turn, I found him. I left the car not so far and when I approached, I started to hear horrible things coming from my father's mouth. It's obvious, or at least for me, to know to whom he was saying that, so I decided to do one of the things I always wanted to do to him: choke him."

Stanley feels Tobey said that with a grudge.

"I should kill him for what he did to her and all of us." The raven-haired man mutters

"I don't think that's a solution. Besides, as I said once to a good friend, you'll eventually regret it."

"Did your friend plotted on killing someone?"

"Yes, it did."

"Who?"

"There are things that are better left unsaid."

Now for real, he needs the mask back. It doesn't matter for him if the Mask effect lasts 5 minutes; it'll be more than enough to avenge his wife one more time. However, the box where the wooden relic is in was probably halfway through the Atlantic Ocean by now and didn't have time to search for it. Second within second, Stanley Ipkiss' growing frustrated at the same time he feels unable to do even the easiest thing ever.

Meanwhile, in Elliot's room, the blond-haired man's trying to calm Peggy down, who's still affected by what her father said to her.

Her brother is one of the experienced psychologists who can even calm down a raging pregnant woman, however, his techniques apparently don't work a lot with his sister, who's lying in his bed. She's still crying and affected by her father's words.

Elliot starts to feel guilty and believes everything that's happening is his entire fault. He thinks nothing of this would have happened if he made his father to cooperate when treating him psychologically.

A strange, light noise that steals the psychologist's attention is heard.

Peggy suddenly starts to feel she's a bit less heavy than usual. She doesn't know if to relieve or to panic more and stress at the same time she clutches her stomach and cries out in pain. A moment later, she starts to feel wet and then she tries not to panic. The male notes her and wonders what is going on, since that's not the typical rage-cry.

"What's going on, Peg?" he asks "Are you alright?"

"My water broke." She replies blankly


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter XX: Existence

It has been at least four hours since Peggy had officially gone into labour.

She's in a ventilated hospital room with her husband. Elliot and Tobey, along with a few of Stanley's relatives, are in the waiting room.

Peggy's contractions are getting frequent and intense every second. She tries to calm herself down, but it's useless. She's feeling she's dying in the inside. The pain continues increasing as Hell, a great part of her muscles stop responding, and she is feeling heavier and heavier. Her heart is beating fast, her nerves are killing her. Stanley is on her side, trying to calm her down. He does everything from rubbing her back to make her laugh. It helps a bit; however, she wants to scream in agony as she's squeezing his hand.

The pain is making her wishing she was dead.

"You're doing well, Peg. I'm very proud of you."

"You're not helping, Stanley!" she hisses and throws him an intimidating look at the same time she's panting. "Why don't you make me a favour and get lost because of what you did to me!"

Her husband just stares at her with fear.

"Miss, please calm down." Dr. Coulson said as he checks her cervix. "It's nearly time." He turns to Stanley, who's still trying to calm her down despite her protests. "Don't worry, Mr. Ipkiss. Many women get that angry when they're about to deliver a baby." He said. "It's something common, that's all."

Dr. Coulson checks his watch and leaves the room, probably to attend another patient.

Peggy continues breathing heavily. The contractions continue coming as waves full of intense pain. This makes her wonder how something so 'wonderful' can make everything so painful, especially when it comes to bring it to the world.

The pain is too much to bear and she continues screaming in agony.

After twenty minutes, which seemed to be like an eternity for her, the doctor arrives and checks her again.

"It's time." The doctor then turns to the female. "You know what this means, don't you, Miss"?

Peggy nods.

"Good." He replied. "When I count to three, I want you to push, okay?"

"Okay." She replies.

"Mr. Ipkiss, I need you to help me to spread her legs." He said

Stanley helps Dr. Coulson to move the reporter's legs to allow space for the baby to come.

"Are you ready?" Dr. Coulson asks to Peggy.

She nods at the same time Stanley starts to hold one of her hands.

"One… Two… Three. Push."

Peggy starts to push at the same time small tears start to leave her face. By this time, the pain is five times stronger than earlier. It's a lot of pressure for her. She stops after six seconds and catches her breathe.

"You're doing great, Peg." Her husband said

"One… Two… Three. Push." The doctor orders

The female pushes again at the same time she screams in pain. After a little while, she stops and relaxes. She repeats this again. And again. And again.

"Come on, Peggy!" he motivates his wife. "Make it a hard push!"

"What the crap do you think I'm doing, you idiot!" she screams to him. "Fooling around? I'm pushing as hard as I can! This isn't like managing a stupid bank during a critical economical crisis or something bank-related!" She screams as she pushes again. "Why don't you have the next baby so you'll see how easy it is?" She said as she continues pushing.

After ten minutes, Peggy gives all the strength she has into a final push as she gives a very sharp scream and cry at the same time she's squeezing Stanley's hand.

Her pained screams finally cease after that one. The newborn, deciding the place is too freaking bright, too loud, odd, cold, and insecure, begins to exercise its lungs in protests, which, of course, it meant it was alive and healthy.

She sees Dr. Coulson is holding a bloody and slimy newborn baby, who has the umbilical cord around its neck, and crying. A smiling Stanley glances at his child.

"Jonah." She said under her breathe. Nobody heard what she said.

"It's a boy." Dr. Coulson said with a smile.

Suddenly, Stanley's smile disappears and feels disappointed because of his offspring's gender. Lucky him no one saw him reacting like that.

The doctor then takes the newborn to the master bathroom to examine and clean him.

Peggy relieves and her pains start to vanish. She can't believe she had just successfully delivered her offspring into the world. Tears of happiness start to form in her eyes. Stanley is congratulating her by rubbing her head and kissing her cheek.

"You did a great job, Peggy. I'm so proud." He said, and then he backs off. "You won't order me to get lost and scram, will you?"

"I'm sorry for being mad at you." She replied with a smile. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine, don't worry." He said as he approaches her and kneels face-to-face. "After all, the doctor said its normal."

She nods and sighs.

"Stanley, I'm sorry he was not…" she pauses a bit. "The girl you wanted."

"Its okay, Peg." He replies. "It doesn't matter. I'm happy with him." He smiles, then, she does the same as Stanley takes her hand.

Minutes later, Dr. Coulson returns with the baby, who was now calmed down and wrapped in a white blanket, and leaves him on his mother's chest.

"I'll leave you and your wife alone for a while." Dr. Coulson said to Stanley with a smile. "Congratulations again." He said as he left.

Stanley looks back at Peggy, who is cuddling her baby son.

The little male is sleeping and she's thinking how adorable and perfect he is. The baby boy has adorable features, especially the brownish-red hair starting to sprout from his head. Instantly, maternal instinct takes over Peggy. She gives him a long kiss in the forehead and smiles at him. She remembers how months ago she was going to abort the little thing she's holding now. If Stanley didn't stop her in time, she'd have been so guilty about it and that memory would be hunting her forever, for the rest of her life.

The adult male touches his son's closed hand with his finger. He's smiling and feels how soft and fragile he is.

"How are we naming him?" Stanley asked

"I'm thinking in naming him Jonah."

He reacts negatively to the name and crosses his arms.

"I won't have a son named Jonah."

"Why not? I like that name."

"Well, I don't."

"Why?"

"That was my father's name. And he didn't treat me well. He favoured other kids and not me."

"Fine, fine. Do you have any other names in mind?"

"Not really." He replied. "I was looking towards a girl, remember?"

After a long while, she comes up with another name.

"What about Ethan?"

He nods a few seconds later.

"Not bad. I like that name." he smiles

They start to nuzzle.

"Would you like to hold your baby son?" she passes Ethan into Stanley's arms and he holds him on his own as he cradles him.

The newborn male opens his eyes and stares at him. His father puts his index finger in his son's little palm, and he squeezes his little fingers around it. Stanley smiles at this and holds his son closer to him.

"I'm so glad you're finally here." He said to him. "I'm sorry for thinking and claiming you were going to be a girl." He muttered to his baby.

He suddenly feels Ethan's open little palm in his cheek.

The adult male smiles and returns him to his mother. He keeps smiling and sees Ethan is looking at him, smiling, like if he wanted to laugh. Suddenly, Stanley's smile fades away from his face as he remembers something at the same time he looks his son's grey eyes.

"Stanley, are you alright?" Peggy asks. "Is everything okay?"

-xxx-

_Flashback_

_Stanley's tenth birthday._

The boy blew the candles. Everyone was near the brown-haired 10-year-old. They were clapping as he smiled. He was then hugged by his mother, who, affectionately, kissed him in his cheek. Amanda, who was 16 at that time, went to her brother and hugged him like a sister would do to its younger sibling.

Suddenly, Stanley saw his father observing everything from inside the house. Since he was encouraged by the good moment he was having, the brown-haired boy left to where his dad was. He finally found him, sitting in a chair checking some electricity bills.

"Dad," the boy said, plucking up courage, albeit with nervousness and curiosity. "Why do you hate me?"

Jonah left the papers on the table and removed his reading glasses. He stared at his son at the same time Stanley tried not to shake, since he was feeling intimidated by the older male. The boy tried not to look at those glaring, grey eyes.

"You will understand when you get older, boy." Jonah replied with a cold voice

"Why?" Stanley wondered. "Can you explain me, please? I promise I'll understand."

"No, because you're too stupid to understand." His father hissed

The boy gasped and left crying as Jonah returned to the papers and put his glasses on.

-xxx-

He finally understands.

Jonah tried to be the last male of the lineage. He was tired of being the butt of the jokes of everybody and passing that disgrace into the males of the family like his father did to him, his grandfather, and the list goes on. He thought if he was able to drive his son crazy, he'd manage to induce him to either to abstain from having a family or commit suicide. However, he cared for his son, even if it wasn't hinted at all. Instead of his plan going as imagined, Stanley wanted to prove Jonah he was worthy by being the best and working with him. Calling him an 'accident' woke up the grudge he, unknowingly, developed against his father all this years.

Unlike him, the brown-haired man is not going to treat Ethan like garbage, even if he was not the girl he wanted. He's his son.

Suddenly, he starts to remember an argument he had with his sister, around four years ago, exactly a day after he returned from his business trip.

-xxx-

"Stanley, what was your problem?" Amanda asked him

"I told you I had to stay in Miami because of the conferences." Stanley replied

"You hate conferences." She reminded him. "You could have told your boss you had to go because your father died."

"Why would I assist to the funeral and burial of someone who hated me with a burning passion?"

"He was our father, mom's husband-"

"And someone who called me an unexpected surprise, an accident in front of my workmates and some clients. You know how humiliating was that? You know how I felt?"

"Maybe you still see him like that. He cared for us."

"Talk for yourself, Amanda. Every time he found out I was bullied he humiliated me more. Jonah was the lucky enough I didn't go on a massive, murderous rampage, with him being my first victim."

"How could you be able to say that? Why are you referring him by his name?"

"Jonah was just a-" Stanley stopped himself for saying a curse. "Never mind. He was not my father. A father is someone who loves, cares, and looks after you. Not someone who screws you and makes you to feel miserable with the desire of committing suicide. He's just a stranger for me."

Knowing there was no use of talking with her brother with raging anger; Amanda took an envelope from her purse and gave it to him.

"What's this?" he asked as he saw the envelope.

"It's a letter." She replied, firmly. "Dad said he wrote it some time ago and wanted me to give it to you when you were ready. However, seeing how are you acting, I believe you might be ready to read it when you calm yourself down."

_End of Flashback_

-xxx-

He still has the envelope, closed. He recalls he was about to burn it, however, he decided to open it when he was ready. And he appears he is.

A knock is heard.

"Come in." Peggy said.

The door opens. It's Elliot, who's being accompanied by Tobey, Mildred, Amanda, and her children.

"The doctor told us we can see you now." The blond-haired man said.

Peggy nods with a smile upon her face.

Everyone entered to the room.

"Everyone, come and meet our son." Stanley said.

"Son?" Amanda repeats with a smile

Mildred approaches and sees Ethan, who is curiously staring at her. She notes the baby's eye-colour and giggles a bit.

"Stanley, I know your son's eyes remind you a lot of your father." She whispered to her son. "If it makes you happy, some babies have their eyes grey when they're born. The real colour will show later."

The 33-year-old male smiles at this and feels relieved.

"Do you want to hold him, mom?" he asks

"Really?" she asks

Peggy gives her Ethan and now the older female is carrying him. She studies him closely as she's remembering the first time she had Stanley in her arms. Mildred continues contemplating him._ My! He resembles his father in almost every single detail._ She thought.

"It's like carrying Stanley again." She said to her son's wife.

Peggy giggled a bit. Well, she was feeling the same and remembered the 'Rejuv-a-lotion' incident some time ago. The red-haired reporter turns to her husband, who was a bit red because of what his mother said.

"Uncle Stanley," Rachel said. "What's my new cousin's name?"

"Ethan." The brown-haired adult male replied with a smile. "His name is Ethan."


End file.
